


Poor Oliver

by arrowfelicity



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-25
Updated: 2014-06-20
Packaged: 2018-01-26 11:51:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 31,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1687310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arrowfelicity/pseuds/arrowfelicity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How I imagine season three could happen in it's OLICITY moments. It's not unrealistic, they wouldn't have sex immediately because that's just not how Oliver and Felicity are portrayed in the series, I try to make it as realistic for them as possible. I think if it could really happen, it can be more exciting, that's what I'm shooting for: the suspense that leads up to it..... and im not even gonna pretend it didn't happen, I forgot I was making it realistic and went disney princess at the end, but im happy with it and im not changing it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Ch. 1 Where to go from here:

Everything was a disaster for Oliver. He stood watching as people came in and out of the house moving furniture, HIS furniture out. “You shouldn’t be here. I’m not sure it’s emotionally healthy.” Felicity’s voice came from behind. “What are you doing here?” He asked her, seeing her for the first time since Purgatory. “I’m the one that’s in charge of where all this goes until you can have it back. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure it’s safe.” She whispered the last part and smiled at him. He wished he could return the sentiment, but watching his entire life, his home, his childhood being taken apart it was kind of hard for him; this was his father’s home, his mother’s home, who despite all her mistakes was above all, his mother, and the home of Thea, wherever she may be. He needed a place to stay now that Laila was going to move in with Diggle, and Oliver felt strange being there with them too. “You okay?” Felicity asked seriously. “No, I-” He turned to her. “Do you know of any cheap apartments?” He asked her, staring at her intently. “Well, um, I don’t know, I could check…” She stuttered and brought her tablet closer to her face while she immediately started her search. “You know…” She mumbled, “You…” She whispered something else but it was too low for Oliver to hear. “What?” He leaned in closer. “You could move in with me.” He stared at her silently. “I mean, in the other bedroom in my apartment. My roommate finally gave up on me and all my weirdness, mostly your fault anyways, and left last month so I’ve had to pay the entire rent by myself.” She explained quickly. She made weird shapes with her lips like she sometimes did, tapping her tablet. “Soo… Yeah. Let me know.” She nodded and went back to staring at the house as it was being locked up. “At least you still have part of the company, right?” She asked. She knew the company felt bad kicking him out completely after his mother was killed and promised to give him the CEO seat again once he’d proven he could manage his provisional seat in the counsel for a year, and that he wouldn’t flake on the company this time, giving the job to someone else. “Yeah, at least. Since Thea hasn’t given me the common courtesy of giving me a simple phone call from SC since she left. I told her to go out of the city, not to disconnect from the world.” The irritation was clear in his face. “Is it okay if I bring my things over this evening? Laila already has her suitcases in Diggle’s place.” He spit out quickly. “Oh!” Felicity was genuinely surprised he’d actually accepted to live with her without even asking how much the monthly rent was. “Sure! You can bring it any time. I’ll make sure I grab her old key and give it to you when you do.” The movers were starting to close everything up and move. “I better go. I’ll see you later.” She saw him smile out of the corner of her eyes and felt her chest tighten. He didn’t do much of that nowadays.

 

Felicity lay on her bed later that day, wondering why it hadn’t occurred to Oliver to simply make a bedroom under the club, now that he took over again. It would seem perfectly sound, seeing as how he owned the club again, after a couple months’ worth of salary, and he, along with Diggle and Felicity, were focusing on rebuilding their lair, which was, for loss of better description, a fucking disaster after Slade was done with it. Maybe he needs a decent place to present his business partners to, she thought, and looking around, decided her apartment was also not the place. She was considering why she AND Oliver didn’t move under the club and stop paying rent when someone knocked on the door. She jumped up, trying not to notice the fact that her heart was beating a thousand times faster than if she knew it was a stranger at the door. She looked through the peep hole for good measure and opened the door. Oliver stood there, a sheepish smile on his face, and a couple suitcases surrounding him. “Jesus, Oliver, I think you have more clothes than me.” She whispered, swinging the door wide open. “Thank you?” He asked, not sure if that was a compliment or not. He brought them into the living room, looking around, noticing he’d never visited Felicity in her apartment before, and wondered if he should have. It had a very peaceful tone, and was delicately decorated with light colors. “Where am I going to sleep?” He clasped his palms together, and smiled at her. “This way.” He followed her without luggage first. The bedrooms were bigger than he’d expected them to be, which was saying a lot, actually. There was a bed, a dresser and closet, nothing much else. “She took the TV that hung from the wall there… And the pictures, and the hangers, apparently.” She raised her eyebrows. “The mirror’s still there!” She noticed happily, looking behind the closet door. Not that he’d use it much, but still. She turned around to look at him, hands behind her back. “You’re okay to move in by yourself now?” She asked him. “Yeah, I think I can figure it out now.” He smiled, happy to have his own room again. She was about to walk about when he put himself in her way so that her face was millimeters from his. “I don’t know if I got to say thank you, but… Thank you.” He smiled, and her heart practically jumped out of her chest. “You did, and you’re welcome.” She quickly sidestepped him in hopes that he didn’t notice her dramatic heart rhythm like she did. She rolled her eyes at herself, could she be any more pathetic?

Oliver stared at the couches with the pillows on them and wondered why this seemed more like home than his own has had ever been. He sat on the bed and made a list of the things he needed to buy: A TV, hangers… He looked around. He had a bedroom light, he didn’t need a lamp… Maybe an alarm clock would be nice… He spent the rest of the evening making a list of things he’d previously taken for granted and now needed more than ever. He laid down in a bed with sheets he could only assume Felicity had placed there for him in the meantime, and thought about his new life. He’d have to learn a lot, but surely it couldn’t be worse than the island. He scoffed at the thought and fell asleep with a smile on his face. 


	2. Poor Oliver chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Their first day at work after Slade's army tore the city apart.

Oliver learned the next day that there was a lot, actually, to living like a normal human being that he had no idea about. How could someone like the vigilante, who was supremely skilled at killing mass murderers and protecting the people of Starling City, not know how to do these simple tasks? When he got up, he showered, noting his need to buy razors, shaving cream, after shave, soap, shampoo and conditioner, and upon exiting the bathroom, he saw Felicity sitting on the couch, reading a book. She promptly closed it and sighed. “Finally, I thought you’d never come out!” She smiled. She was about to walk past him into the bathroom, but stopped, took two steps back to be able to look at his face as she spoke. “I made breakfast because it’s your first morning here; Pancakes. But I’m warning you from right now: It is NEVER happening again. Got it?” She pointed at him with her index, poking his bare, wet chest, which she decided immediately was a bad idea because it made her hormones act out. She put her finger away and he nodded seriously, and once the door closed behind her, his smile cracked wide on his face. Felicity made him breakfast? Yeah, that’d never happen again. He tugged at the towel around his waist right before he reached the room and closed the door behind him to get dressed.

When he came out, Felicity was already showered and dressed and ready to go by the door. “Let’s go! You’re going to be late for your first day, officially, working for Queen Consolidated. You don’t want to get fired.” She cocked her head sideways, as she said this, and rushed him out the door, effectively missing his breakfast. “I really was looking forward to that once in a lifetime breakfast.” He murmured, walking fast pace behind her. “You’ll be alright, it’ll still be there when we get home later.” He wanted to ask if it was still going to be edible, but didn’t want to sound like a stupid rich kid so he just shut his mouth. As soon as they arrived at the company, everyone’s eyes were on them. “Why are they staring?” Oliver asked, finally, when they were out of earshot. “Well, you wouldn’t know because they still have some respect for you. Me, however, they plainly ask questions without any sentiment of regret.” He gave her a puzzling look. “They think I’m pregnant.” “What?!” He burst out, which made others turn to them as well. “Well, you know, because were living together now, and you because you stayed with me despite being poor now.” She didn’t look at him as she said this. “But don’t worry, I set them straight. You’d never be interested in someone like me anyways. You like girls like Sarah, who are secretly a part of a mass murder’s cooking club.” Her voice turned a little resentful, but Oliver didn’t notice. “Felicity, you know that’s not true.” He was rather disappointed. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I am still the CEO Secretary, which means I’ll need to pour some coffee to keep my job. Thanks a lot, by the way.” She sneered at him and left him alone in the hallway. He realized he felt a lot like a child being left at school for the first time, and immediately pushed away that childish feeling. He was a grown man, he could very well take care of himself.

Turns out business meetings were extremely boring. He only kept paying attention because the only thing he wanted more than anything else at the moment was to take his father’s company back from the wrong people. Near the end of the meeting Felicity walked in with a tray of tea and cups, and she looked at the ground as she walked around giving everyone their share. It was simple enough, it was what every other CEO Secretary signed up for and did, but for some reason, it boiled Oliver’s blood to see her doing these things that he knew she hated more than life itself. He got up when the CEO (for now) was in the middle of his sentence, and as Felicity walked by, he took the tray away from her, quickly glancing at her face just long enough to see the surprise on her face. She froze in place as he continued to finish the job for her, and he too realized the counsel had gotten very quiet. “You’re excused, Ms. Smoak.” He said to her when he was done. She nodded, gapping, and strolled out gracefully. “Is there a particular reason you did this, Mr. Queen?” The CEO asked, and everyone leaned slightly forward to hear his response. “Well, this is a private meeting. You wouldn’t want the staff to hear about these delicate issues, right?” He smiled crooked knowing that nobody was satisfied with this answer because they all knew he lived with Felicity now; the address of all company workers was listed online and he had changed his to her same address for everyone to see. He’d also listed her as his emergency contact, and he was sure she’d noticed, but opted not to say anything about the matter. “Well, as I was saying…” This is about when Oliver usually tuned out.

 

When the meeting was over Oliver said his goodbyes and went down 18 floors to the IT department, sure that Felicity would seek refuge here for the rest of the day. As the elevators door opened he saw her in her old desk at the computer. He started walking there but some other secretaries were unknowingly a couple steps ahead of him. They looked at Felicity, sneered, giggled with each other and slowed down as they passed her. “What, are your blow jobs not good enough to keep you up there all day? Limited access, ouch.” One of them said. Felicity stood up and was about to open her mouth to say something snarky back, he was sure, but he cleared his throat before her. The girls jumped and with their big eyes stumbled back on their heels. “I am so sorry sir, we didn’t mean to- we’re very so-” He put up one hand and they both shut up. “Apologize.” He demanded. “Oliv- Mr. Queen, that’s really not nesse-” He ignored her, and demanded again. “Apologize to her or your fired.” They looked at Felicity as if it was her fault and mumbled the word “sorry” before running off to the safety of their fire-proof desks. “You didn’t have to do that, that’s just going to spark their gossiping.” She sighed, sitting back down. “Do they always do this?” He asked, still staring after them in rage. “Just ignore them, that’s what I do, it’s pretty effective.” She mumbled and went back to the computer screen. He rolled his eyes and then looked at her. “You shouldn’t have to take that. It’s ridiculous.” He told her, leaning over her desk. “And you shouldn’t have taken the tray away from me in the meeting.” She said. “You hate that!” He justified. “Oliver, the fact that everyone thinks we’re together, and that they know we live together, is making it really hard for me to justify my high promotion form last year.” “Felicity, you already do most of the work for the CEO, YOU manage this entire company because that man that sits in that chair everyday doesn’t know what he fuck he’s even talking about. YOU deserve all the respect.” His little outburst was a little louder than he intended it to be and some people walking by heard him (which would make sure everyone knew what he’d said by the end of the day). Felicity sighed, leaning back in her chair. “It’s lunch hour. Do you wanna go home and eat that pancakes you didn’t finish this morning?” She asked him. He smiled, nodded, and pulled her off her chair with one hand. “I was really looking forward to that this morning, you know. What you did this morning, pulling me out without tasting your pancakes, was evil.” He told her. She laughed for the first time all day, her head falling back. He smiled, staring at her laugh, and the way her lips moved, the way she smelled of shampoo and lavender, and the delicate feeling of her skin. She was intoxicating. He mentally kicked himself, though, as he walked next to her. He had to control himself more now that he lived with her. He couldn’t allow himself to fall for her; that would be a gift greater than anything he deserved, he didn’t deserve her, she deserved someone better. He would make sure anyone who got close to her was worthy of her, or he’d scare them away. Yeah, that was a good plan.


	3. Realize

      Once they got to the apartment Felicity let him have the pancakes, which had chocolate chips in them, and heated up some left over pasta from yesterday’s lunch. They sat down in silence and ate, and when it got a little awkward, he nodded, pointing to the pancakes. “These. Are. Amazing.” Felicity laughed, swallowing the pasta she already had in her mouth. “Like I said, it won’t happen again, so you better enjoy it.” There was a knock on the door and Oliver was up and with a knife in his hands in two seconds flat. “Oliver, relax! It’s probably just Diggle, I asked him to come over for lunch, ‘because you haven’t seen him either. You’re isolated, you need to get back out there.” As she grasped the door knob she glanced up at him and added, “Out there referring to a social life, not girls.” She opened the door then, but her face twisted as she realized that might have not been the right way to say it either. “You in pain?” Diggle asked coming inside. “Me? What? No, here’s your food, sit and eat.” She said quickly, shoving a plate of food at him and pushing him towards the table. “Wow there, okay!” Diggle laughed and sat. All three of them ate in silence and when all three of them were done, leaning back against their seats, Oliver finally asked the question he’d been dreading for the past three days. “How’s Detective Lance doing?” He asked John. “He’s hanging in there. The doctors say he’s going to be alright, Laurel is with him, and her mom came into the city too. Laurel asked about you.” John looked intently at both Oliver and Felicity, trying not to smirk. “What’d she ask?” Oliver ask, pretending he didn’t really care. “If you were doing okay, you know, because you got kicked out of your house. I told her you found a good place to stay.” He was clearly holding back his laughter now. Feeling the tension, Felicity got up, picking up the plates and started putting them in the dish washer. “Um, okay. Have you heard from-” Oliver gave John a look. “Yes, your little Russian Mob friends stopped by last night and left everything in the office. It’s all there. We can start setting everything up as soon as you’re ready.” John answered. Felicity returned to the table and murmured, “You mean I get to upload and reset everything I had already done? Well, I guess it’s a good thing I like doing my job.” Oliver’s head coked sideways a little and he smirked, “Felicity, you are a part of this team, it’s not a job.” Felicity nodded, brushing his comment away with her hand. “Have you considered what Detective Lance said?” She asked him, glancing at John sideways as she did so. Oliver squinted his eyes at her, knowing exactly what she was up to. “What did detective Lance propose?” John asked, looking between the two of them.

     “He proposed Oliver run for Mayor!” Felicity announced loudly. She turned to John so she wouldn’t have to see the disapproval in Oliver’s face and told the story excitedly. “When Oliver went to visit him the day after, well, you know, he told Oliver Blood was dead, which I’m not sure we should mourn, but he went to the funeral anyways. And Lance told him that Blood was publicly his friend, and his mother was, well, his mother, and there was nobody to vote for now to run for Major and he told him Oliver should do it. Because he was personally connected to the last two people who ran… who are now dead…” Her voice deflated the more she told the story, and by the end, she was slouching with a serious look. Diggle raised one eyebrow at Oliver. “Why don’t you? Seems like a legit proposal. I’d vote for you.” He said. Oliver shook his head, getting up, “Because I’m busy trying to get back my company, and rebuild the lair so we can have a place to go from, and-” Felicity interrupted him. “And because Slade was coming after you he destroyed this entire city. To ashes. For you.” She realized it wasn’t her job to make him feel guilty, or at least more than he already did, but he needed some sort of encouragement. “You really think I can run a company, a city, and the hood at the same time?” He asked them sarcastically. “Well, when you say it like thaaatt.” Felicity rolled her eyes and grabbed her purse. “Are we going somewhere?” John asked, following them. “To the Lair.” Oliver and Felicity answered simultaneously as they walked out the door. “Jinx.” Felicity whispered, and locked the door behind them.

      At the Lair they found boxes upon boxes of new equipment to be sorted and organized. Roy was already there, moppy ever since Thea left for Starling City. Everyone knew he was hiding something but he wouldn’t say what. He had cleaned up the lair flawlessly since that night. He hadn’t had another job per se (Even Diggled had to find another job as a security guard at QC because he needed the money now more than ever for his baby), so he’d spend most of the day and night throwing the trash away and fixing things that needed fixing not only in the lair but in Verdant as well. So tonight, when the three of them walked in it was like that night had never happened. Instead it looked like they had moved away and now were moving back.

      “Wow. You did great.” Oliver said. “I’d expected a lot more work to be done, but it’s practically almost done.” She thought she heard some regret in his voice, but ignored until later notice. “Come on, we’ve got work to do!” She said. They established all the computers first, turned them on and fixed the cables unit for her to do the upgrading while they moved all the heavy things around.

      At about 11 she realized she should probably get home and get to sleep since she had to be at work earlier than usual to pick up someone else’s shift and said her goodbyes. She grabbed her bad lazily and walked out of the club. She got in her car, started the engine, and drive into the street before she realized she felt someone looking at her. She quieted down and could almost hear someone breathing from behind her seat. She took a detour back towards the club and came to a halting, abrupt and somewhat painful stop in front of the building. She went to open the door but the ma already had the gun to her head. “Don’t you dare move, or I’ll shoot you.” He whispered. She counted to three before yanking the handle on the door and throwing herself to the floor because she felt it’d be harder for him to shoot her if she wasn’t standing. At the moment it made sense. “Get to the club, get to the club, get to-” He tackled her from behind, turned her over and pinned her down to the ground. “Don’t scream. I can’t let you go, lady, you’ve seen my face. Just give me the keys. I need to get away from SC, just give me the keys.” He had strong alcohol levels in his breath, and the gun quivered in his hand. He was about thirty, dirty face, probably a homeless who stole something. “I am NOT giving you my car.” The man raised his hand to hit her over the head with the gun when someone hit him over the head, ironically, and he fell with all his weight on top of her.

      He also smelled like rats, Felicity noticed as she pushed his face away from hers. The someone that hit him over the head also pushed him off of her begrudgingly and held out a hand to help her up. “Thanks.” She said, brushing her skirt from all his dirt, or at least as much as she could. “Felicity, you’re hopeless.” Oliver said, standing right in front of him. “Oh!” She said, seeing who it was. “Thank you.” She picked up her keys and headed back to her car. “I’m going with you this time.” Oliver grunted, and got in the driver’s side. “Allllrighty, then.” She murmured and handed him the keys before walking around. On the way there she tried to fix her hair as much as she could. That bandit had tussled quite some and now she looked like Medusa. “You couldn’t even fend off a drunken car-jacker.” Oliver stated. “Thank you captain obvious.” Felicity mocked him in a deep voice. “You need to learn how to fight Felicity. You’re really tiny and defenseless right now. And your fight or flight was flight and your flight sucked.” She just stared at him this time. “No shit, Sherlock.” She announced. He sighed and as they arrived, he said, “Tomorrow, when you get off work, go buy some sporty clothes, I’m going to start training you this weekend.”


	4. Office Training

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity deals with more office drama bitch and Oliver begins his training :p

     She woke up late the next morning, sleeping past her alarm clock, and rushed out of bed and soon after into the office. “You’re late.” Her coworker Liz said with a blatant expression. “Sorry, I didn’t get much sleep.” Felicity said, logging into the computer’s database. “Well, let Mr. Queen know when you have an early shift next time.” She snorted, and walked out of Felicity’s office without giving her a chance to come up with a snappy comment.

    “What a bratty bitch.” Felicity murmured under her breath. She had the urge to break into her bank account and buy herself some clothes as a gift from her. That’d piss her off more, if that was possible. She had to deal with the new CEO’s incompetence when it came to the work he was supposed to be doing, and in turn she did most of the running the company. He often came to sit on the edge of her desk, flirt with her and ask for advice. Which he often took, surprisingly. She was writing an email to another company about re-opening the research department of QC when Liz came back in. “Are you done?” she asked. “How do you expect me to be done with this if you walked out five minutes ago? Go find something to do with yourself and let me be.” Felicity snapped. Liz looked shocked and murmured something about sleeping with the boss and the privileges as she walked back out. She stopped at the door frame and said, “You know he’s not getting the entire company back, right? He’s only here out of pity, and then what rich tree are you gonna climb?” She slammed the door behind her. “That’s it.” Felicity finished the letter quickly and angrily. “She is going to regret doing that.” She kept telling herself. She finished a stack of paperwork that had to be done by 10 when the CEO, Mr. Brown, came in and she finished it before then.

   She hacked into Liz’s bank account and found something she did not expect to find; Liz actually had deposits made into her account from QC that did not belong to her check, large, very large amounts. She traced the transaction and found that it had been made by the CEO himself. “Well, now I don’t have to feel bad.” She smirked and transferred money into a non-existent account that would exist as soon as she cashed it out later today. As she exited the bank with a thousand dollars in cash she felt her remorse get to her again. She’d only taken a thousand, compared to the five thousand she was getting monthly. But was it still considered stealing from the company? Oliver’s company? She was about to debate it when she saw the fitness store across the street. She hummed in her head, looked both ways and crossed the street without another remark.

    She entered the lair and saw a huge difference. Things looked newer and better than last time, and Roy was bending over the steel table sharpening some arrows. “Are they supposed to be that sharp?” She asked him. He grunted without looking up. There were new mats on the floor and the lighting had been replaced. “How did we afford all of this?” She asked out loud. “The mafia owed me one.” Oliver answered, coming down the stairs. He had his game face on. “Well, go on, go change, I hope you drank a lot of water.” He said. Felicity froze. “Why?” She asked. “Well, because after this you’re going to be sweating profusely, you’ll be dehydrated.” Felicity turned away from him like a robot and shut the bathroom door behind her. She had bought quite a couple of outfits. She chose to wear the more conservative one in hopes of not making a fool of herself out there today, even though she now realized the shirt was awfully tight, and emphasized her not so large bosom. She tried to not think about it as she walked out of the bathroom.

   Oliver had been leaning against a dummy, probably trying to talk to Roy, and stopped speechless when he saw her. “Do I look ridiculous?” She asked, looking down at herself. He shook his head, and cleared his throat. “No, you don’t, you look… Okay, then.” He looked away, looked back at Felicity and looked away again, which made her blush intensely and they hadn’t even started. “Didn’t you buy something that covered more skin?” He asked her, his voice raspy. “This is the most conservative one they had!” Her got big and her voice was an octave higher when she spoke. Roy looked up and did a double take as well. “Good luck with her.” He told Oliver, who sighed and nodded again.

   “Okay… First, put one foot in front of the other like this,” He stood behind her. “Keep straight,” He put his hands on her shoudlers and pulled her back so that she was straight up against his chest. “And close your hands like this.” He wrapped his hands around hers and closed hers with her thumbs on the outside.With every instruction he gave her, he molded her with his own hands, and as much as she hated herself for thinking it, Felicity realized she’d remember more because he touched her in those specific parts. She tried out a few punches to the dummy, which obviously didn’t budge an inch when she hit it. “I’m not storng enough for this. If someone attacked me my best chance would be to just slap them.” She complained, thinking how useless this would all be. “You’re stronger than you think, Felicity, this thing is just really hard. And I didn’t expect you to throw it off the first time I trained you. Come on.” He led her to the mat and opened his palms like stop signs. “High five?” She asked, and he laughed. “Yes, Felicity, when someone attacks you, you high five them.” She gave him an evil look that would come from a small kitty. “No, just hit my hands as hard as you can.” She hesistated, “What if I hurt you?” She asked and this time he gave her a look. “Felicity Smoak, I’m sure that if you hit me your hardest, I’ll survive.” She did this for a while and suddenly he hit her back on her ribs. “Ouch!” so for a while later she learned how to duck without falling over, which seemed to be a big issue with her coordination. He had her stand with her legs apart and bandaged eyes and try not to fall over form whichever direction he tried to push her down from. She was being forced to do push-ups when she had an idea. She turned her leg suddenly at which point he was actually knocked off his legs. He immediately acted in self-defense and sat on her torso, apprehending her wrists to the mats with his hands. “Next time you do this, make sure you move so that your opponent’s target isn’t so easy to catch.” He told her, not moving. “Okay.” She could feel his leg hairs against her legs and was glad she’d shaved, making a mental note to shave next time somewhere in the back of her mind, while she stopped breathing and just stared at his face above her and wondered what it’d be like to sleep with him. Finally she looked at her hands and then back at him. “Oh,” he said, apparently coming out of a trance as well, realizing he was still on top of her. He stood in one flowing movement and extended his hand to help her up, which she took, and had to jump a little to stop because he’d pulled her a little too hard. “Well, that wasn’t awkward.” Roy whispered in Oliver’s ear as he walked by. “Start again on the push-ups form the beginning.” Oliver told her and she groaned. She went back to doing push-ups and sweating like a pig while he just stared at her.

   Some time later, mercifully, her phone rang. “Ha!” She laughed at Oliver, out of breath, and ran to her phone. “Hello… Yes sir. Yes. I’ll be there.” She hung up and was dazed. “Who called?” Oliver asked. “CEO of QC. He wants me in the office in… Three hours.” Oh God, what if they found out she stole from Liz’s bank account? What if she was being fired? Where would she work during the day? “I’m gonna go shower.” She told Oliver and headed to the bathroom. She stripped off all the drenched clothes and stepped into the shower. It felt like heaven to have the power jets burn on her back, and the soap to refresh her skin all over. Towards the end she turned the water cold to feel cool and finally dried, dressed, and was out the door. As she walked to the car, and after driving, from the car to the elevator in the QC building, she realized how much everything hurt. She knocked on his door and he called to tell her to come in.

    “You called for me, Sir?” She asked, standing behind the chairs. “Ms. Smoak, I’ve received complaints from several of your coworkers about your… sassy attitude towards your work and your coworkers.” Behind the chair seat, she clenched her fist so fight she could feel her short nails claw into her palms. “I’d like to know what specifically I did to offend my coworkers unintentionally, sir, so that I may remember not to do so again.” She said, her voice calm. “Well, I didn’t get the specifics, I just wanted to ask you to be nicer, and I don’t want trouble on my floor, otherwise you’re out.” Just then the door opened and Oliver came in fast, freezing at the sight of Felicity. “Oh, I’m sorry Mr. Brown! I didn’t realize she’d be working so late!” He seemed very genuine about his lie, though. “It’s quite alright, Mr. Queen, she was just on her way out.” He looked at Felicity with superiority. “Was I? Oh, okay then.” She said. “Actually I was just going to leave this on your desk, have a good night!” Oliver dropped off a packet on his desk and followed her out of the office. In the elevator he placed his hand on her shoulder, and turned her so that she was facing him. “You’re okay?” He asked her. She didn’t look directly into his eyes when she answered, but she said, “Yes, I’m just tired. You need to take his job sooner than later, though.” He brought her closer, smelling his shampoo in her hair and then put her at arm’s length and said, “Don’t worry, I will.”


	5. Lucas

Felicity sat in the booth waiting for her coffee to be made the next afternoon during her lunch break. Oliver had been too busy to come with her so she’d made a trip out of it. “Felicity and Lucas!” The coffee-bartender (as she liked to call them) yelled, placing two cups on the counter top. She walked up to the counter and turned both cups around to see which one had her name written on it. “Felicity means bliss and happiness.” A voice said from behind her ear. She jumped startled and turned around. “Sorry!” A man said, raising his hands like a criminal caught by the police. He was tall and lean and had wavy light brown hair; he wore a vest and jeans. She laughed and eased. “You’re fine.” She told him, grabbing the cup on the left. “Your name IS beautiful, though. Much like its owner.” He kept his eyes on her as he took a swig of his drink. “Does that usually work on the girls?” Felicity asked him, walking towards the booth again. “Normally, yeah. They don’t usually ask me that question though, so maybe not always.” He sat uninvited across from her and leaned forward. “Soo…” She looked at his cup, “Lucas! What do you do?” He told her that he was a biological engineer and had his own private lab to work in, and that he was currently single before asking her what she did. “I’m the CEO Secretary at Queen Consolidated. Not much excitement in my life, right?” she chuckled. “Look, it’s been nice talking to you, but I have to go, my lunch break’s almost over.” She stood and grabbed her purse. “Wait! Do you want to have dinner?!” He called out as she walked away. “My nights are pretty busy, sorry!” Her voice barely reached him as she walked out the door.  
Later that day she went to the bathroom and upon returning found a card on her desk. It read, “It was great to have coffee with you momentarily. Call me?” and it left a number at the bottom. She scoffed, unable to believe he’d actually gone through the trouble of coming to leave a note on her desk. Sloppily hand written if she did say so herself. She stuffed it in her purse and continued to work. In actuality, she should have the tittle (and the pay) of the company CEO because she had perfected Mr. Brown’s signature, and instead of sending it to him to sign she’s just do it herself. She knew more about the investments the company made, and knew which ones to avoid and how to handle the finances more than anyone else with power in the company. Most of the people there were only there because Oliver didn’t have full power of the company and because their rich daddies had passed on their share of the company completely undeservedly.  
By 6 it was extremely late, and she was the only one on that floor. She was finishing the final touches on a letter to the company’s biggest investor when Diggle walked in. “I thought I’d find you here.” She looked up. “Hey! What brings by my humble abode?” She asked. “Roy has everything set up again. Including the ladder you once said you liked so much.” He winked at her. “Plus, I think you should talk to Oliver about leaving the club to Roy. He’s got too much on his plate right now, and I really do think he should run for Mayor. He can do a lot more things as Mayor than he could as just the Arrow. He could decide not to pursue the Arrow, for one.” John DID make a valid argument. Felicity hit send and got up. “I’ll talk to him about it tonight.” She told him. “Talk to who about what?” She looked up and saw Oliver at the door frame. “Talk to you about not sneaking up on people like that! I swear one of these days I’m going to get a heart attack.” They all walked out together. “Let’s take the stairs.” Oliver said. “We’re on the 20th floor, Oliver.” She spoke to him as if he were mentally retarded. “You need to practice endurance.” He said and opened the door for her. “Here we go again. You and teaching people to be evil. If I didn’t know Felicity I’d say she was just about to become one of your monster ex-girlfriends. You know, the ones you train and then they turn evil and start killing people?” Diggle said, following them. “Yeah, thanks” Was all Oliver could say. Going down the stairs wasn't hard, it was just time consuming, for which she tried to go down as fast as she could. The boys quickly got her quickening pattern and it turned into a race. Oliver got there first this time, and Diggle let her beat him, so it didn’t really count but she still felt accomplished. They were actually laughing when she saw Lucas leaning against the wall in the lobby. “Hey!” He called out to her and started walking over. “Who’s that?” Oliver asked. “Looks like Felicity’s go herself a boyfriend.” Diggle chuckled. “Shut up.” Felicity said beneath her breath and went to meet him halfway. “Hey! Stalking me, much?” She asked him. “Well, you’re a hard girl to talk to, I had no other choice.” He shrugged. “I was waiting for your call.” He added. “I was going to, when I got home. You beat me to it, though.” She explained. “I don’t think your boyfriend likes me very much.” He whispered, looking over her shoulder towards Oliver and John. “Oh no, neither of them is my boyfriend, gosh, that’d be weird.” She laughed. “Would you like to join me for lunch sometime? Since coffee isn’t really your forte?” he was playing with his voice. “Okay.”  
“I’ll pick you up tomorrow at 12.” He said, and with that he turned around and left. She stood there watching him walk as Oliver and John walked to her. “’I’ll pick you up at 12? Felicity’s got herself a date!” John walked past her and winked. Whether he did so at Felicity or Oliver they’d never go. Oliver cleared his throat looking straight forward and said, “Let’s go.” He didn’t look back to see if Felicity was following. “Weelll then.” She murmured and followed. “You’re still going to have to wait, I have the keys.” She almost rolled her eyes. Most of dinner he was quiet, unusually so even with his character. Then he leaned back against the chair, with his hands on his belly (which in no way looked any closer to a food baby than it did hen he worked out), and asked, “How’d you meet this Lucas?”  
“At the coffee shop.”  
“What’s he do?”  
“Biological engineer.”  
“Do you have a thing for nerds?”  
“he is NOT a nerd, Oliver Queen.” She got up, put the dishes in the washer and slammed her bedroom door. Who did he think he was anyways?


	6. Bugs for lunch

At 11:59 Felicity’s phone rang. “Hello?” she answered. “There’s a Lucas waiting for you in the lobby.” The lobby secretary snarled through the phone, though not as angrily as she usually did. “Okay, thank you.” She answered, getting the feeling she wanted to ask more, and Felicity didn’t want to give her a chance. She grabbed her purse and went down the elevator. Lucas was leaning against the wall like he had been the day before. “Hey!” He smiled and walked up to her. 

“Wow,” He looked her up and down. “You look gorgeous!” She didn’t think she looked any different from any other day, but then she thought to herself, ‘who am I kidding? I put on make-up today.’ They walked down to the diner two blocks from the office and he told her about his life. He grew up in Italy, in a house by the beach with his nonno, (grandfather) and nonna (grandmother). He played the piano and the violin and went to music school and moved to the US when he was 19. “What about your parents?” She asked him as they entered the diner. “Ehh, my biological sperm donor was never really around and my mother died when I was three.” Felicity gapped at him like a hurt puppy. “I am so sorry about your mom… Where you really picked out of a sperm donor?” She blurted the last part, feeling guilty as soon as the words escaped her lips. He laughed out loud and said, “He wasn’t really a sperm donor! That’s just the nickname I gave him, since he left my mom before I was born.” He shrugged and they sat at a table. “Have you been here before?” He asked her, picking up a menu. “No, I always go to Big Belly Burger. Though I’ve tried to stop, lately, it’s addicting though.” He nodded, “Maybe I’ll take you there next time. You’ll have to make an exception because it’ll be my first time.” He said, leaning forward. “Ha! Of course!” 

Just then a waitress came up. “Hi, my name is Jessica, I’ll be your waitress today. Can I get you some drinks?” She tucked a loose strna dof hair behind her ear, smiling from ear to ear, and clearly blushed. Behind the counter I could see some other waitresses giggling amongst themselves and looking at their table. “Seriously?” Felicity murmured under her breath. “Did you say something?” Lucas asked her, pulling her back to reality. “Nothing! I’ll um… I’ll have a tea, I guess.” She told Jessica, who nodded and continued to stare at Lucas. “I’ll have a coke.” He said finally and she wrote it down quickly. “Is there anything else I can do for you?” She asked, leaning slightly forward and slightly letting her cleavage fall all over his face. Or did she just imagine that? “No, we’ll just look over the menu thank you.” Lucas never once looked up at her. She sighed, dissatisfied, and walked back to tell her friends the bad news: He was obviously gay. Felicity laughed out loud at the thought and held it beck quickly, but it was too late; Lucas looked up half amused and asked why she laughed. “Um… Are you gay?” she asked him. “I mean, not because you looked gay to me, or because you would look gay to anyone it’s just that you dress really nice and you asked to have lunch with me and you barely know me and now I’m babbling… Hi.” She smiled, and sighed. If he did like her before for some reason the magic was about to end. Like it always did. Since Oliver mostly; she hadn’t been able to hold down a decent relationship since she swore she’d find Walter, she would have quit then. ‘You wouldn’t have if you wanted to,’ a sarcastic voice in her head said. She thought sadly about all the cute guys that had flirted with her and she hadn't paid a moment’s attention to them during the day, but at night, after all the adrenaline and the rush and the city-saving, things got kind of lonely in her dark apartment. 

“Felicity?” She jumped and suddenly realized Lucas was in front of her. “Hey!” She smiled at him awkwardly. “You okay?” she nodded. “Mmm Hmm.” He smiled and went on talking about something she had no clue about so she slowly caught up. “… The nice clothes are gifts, I have special friends and by special I mean rich. They often give me clothes as gifts because they know I have a weakness for women who know how to dress professionally, and they think the only way I’m going to get one is by dressing professionally as well. But no, to answer your question, I am very much a heterosexual Italian man.” He looked up at the end of his speech, like a proud son who made breakfast to his mama. “That’s good.” She said. This isn't going anywhere good, she thought. She could hardly concentrate on what he was saying. She looked out the window and saw Oliver standing on the other side of the street. Just. Staring. “I’m sorry, Lucas, could you forgive me for a second? I forgot I need to make a call to my, um… Dentist.” He nodded, excusing her ten times over as she stood and crossed the street. As she got closer she said, “Don’t talk to me, just follow” through clenched teeth. She could practically hear him rolling his eyes. “What?” He asked exhaustively when she finally turned to face him. “Um, well, I was on a date and I look out the window and BOOM! There you are. Stand. Staring. Like a freak. Oliver you need to go.” She told him, actually surprised she hadn't stuttered. “I was just-” She put her hand up and walked away before he could finish. The rest of lunch she didn't see him again. After a while of more chit chat and eating breakfast for lunch, there was a long silence and then he asked, “So your night are mostly busy?” She regretted shouting that out, people probably thought she was a prostitute or an exotic dancer. “I have another job.” “Really? What is it?” He asked. “I work at Verdant.” She blurted and then realized that was the worst probable answer she could have given him. “The club?” He asked, obviously confused. “Yeah, no, I d computer stuff.” “Computers, eh? I like my ladies smart too.” He winked at her and he smiled back, but it was as if her creepy uncle had winked at her and not a totally gorgeous Italian. She glanced at her watch and gasped. “Oh my God! I’m late for a meeting!” She whispered. “Oh! I’m sorry to hold you! Go, I’ll wait your call later.” He smiled, getting up. “Thank you so much.” Felicity leaned forward to get up and before she knew it, Lucas kissed her cheek. He smelled like aftershave and she went weak at the knees. She was a human computer genius, but human still. She had needs, and those needs had been neglected for far too long, right? Now was not the time to think about it. She smiled at him and walked out of the diner. 

The meeting as long and useless. All her boss did was tell everyone what a crappy job they were doing and how the Mr. Brown constantly complained about all of them, mostly Felicity. She then proceeded to warn everyone to keep a close eye on their bank accounts because someone had hacked into Liz’s bank account taken money out and could not be traced except back to the company computers. Everyone started gossiping more about that than the job itself. “OMG, Liz, how much did they take?” “How did they do it?” “Did you often check your bank account at work?” She rolled her eyes and looked at her watch again because it kept pulling at her little hairs. God! Why did it have to hurt so much? It was just a fashion statement! She took it off and as she put it into her purse noticed a tiny black spot on the side. She pulled it back out and saw that it was a bug. Her heart skipped a beat and she let out a surprised and somewhat painful silent cry. Some people around her heard her and stared at her quietly and kept ignoring her. She excused herself and went to the bathroom. She gently placed in on the ground and whispered, “I don’t know how long you’ve been there, but I hope you got what you needed while you had the chance.” She stood straight up and with her heel, stomped on the bug as hard and as many times as she could. She picked up the broken pieces and shoved them in her pocked. Someone would certainly pay for this!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey Lovers!!!
> 
> Firstly. I want to thank you all so VERY VERY VERY much for your kudos and your comments because when I made the account here I honestly NEVER EVER thought anyone would like what I wrote, you guys make my day and you guys are my inspiration to keep writing it. So yeah, thank you, i love you, I can't even put it into words, which is saying something because I love to write! :p 
> 
> And secondly, I want to know what you think of Lucas?!?!? I don't know what I'm gonna do with him yet, but I'd love to know what you guys think!!!


	7. Her little black dress

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity finds out Lucas is not Lucas sooo... who the hell is this guy?

“What is this? Oliver, what. Is. This?” she slammed the broken bug on this desk at QC. “That is a severely destroyed bug. Why?” He looked up at her. “I can’t believe that you would do this to me! I know you don’t like Lucas, but you don’t even know him!” she shouted at him. “Felicity-” he tried to talk but she didn’t let him. “Of all the things you’ve done, this is lower, even for you, I can’t believe you did this!” She threw her hands in the air. “Well good!” He finally said, somewhat upset now. “What?” she asked, her head coked sideways, confused. “It’s good that you can’t believe I did that because I didn’t. I didn’t do that.” He said, leaning back, feeling offended that Felicity would think he would do such a thing as place a bug on her. “Well, then who did it?” She asked. “I don’t know, have you asked your boyfriend yet?” He suggested. “Ugh.” She scoffed and stomped her way to her office.   
She hadn’t done a background check on Lucas because she wanted to be a normal human being. Why was that becoming more and more difficult for her? She sat at her desk, and immediately pulled a background check on Lucas and sat shocked, staring at her computer screen for a while. He didn’t exist. There was no Lucas Ignacio from Italy in SC, much less one in the US that studied biochemistry and looked anything like him. She felt like throwing her computer across the room. But mostly she felt ashamed that the one guy she decided to let in was a liar, and faked being someone who he wasn’t.   
She went home earlier than usual and went to the only person she knew wouldn’t ridicule her, and she could trust. Laila opened the door. “Felicity! Is something wrong?” She immediately looked behind Felicity down the hall. “No! I mean, maybe? I wanted to ask Diggle what his thoughts were.” She answered. “Come on in! He’s dressing, he should be out in a second.” She told her, pointing her to the couch. Her belly still didn’t show, Felicity thought, she’d never have guessed she was pregnant. “Thank you.” She said, sitting. “Would you like something to drink?” Laila asked, walking to the kitchen. “No thanks, though.” Laila nodded and got herself some juice. Diggle came out then, surprised to see Felicity. They said their greetings, chit chat a little about this and that and then he asked her the real reason she was there. She explained to him about the bug, and her lack of knowledge as to where it came from. “I tracked down the serial number, it’s a model made in Germany, very popular among the FBI, the mobs, trained killers, ect.” She explained. “This particular serial number was bought with cash in a small store that, get this, had no camera to hack into. Their hand written records say a John Doe bought it. Don’t they know that’s a fake name?!” She was frustrated, feeling useless. “Have you checked the FBI records? Does facial recognition detect anyone with his face?” Felicity shook her head. “I’ve done facial recognition everywhere, through every system I could think of. He doesn’t exist.” Diggle rubbed his temples, clearly out of ideas as she was. “Have you talked to Oliver about it?” He asked, glancing up at her. “I don’t want to.” She pouted. Diggle chuckled and said, “It’s funny how you think you have a choice now.” And got up. “Diggle, you can’t tell him!” she shouted after him. “Felicity, this guy doesn’t exist and put a bug on you, because you couldn’t have caught it anywhere else. And you think this isn’t going to be a big issue? Come on, I’ll go tell him with you.” He caught Laila up on what was going on. Kissed her, rubber her lower abdomen, and they were both out the door.   
“Felicity!” Oliver was outraged, obviously. “FELICITY!” she stopped, and turned around, her hand still on the knob. “Stay. I promise I won’t laugh anymore.” He was fighting the urge to laugh again. I hope you fall again, she thought, turning around and giving Diggle the evil eye. It was his fault. “Okay, I need you to get his address for me and I’ll go as the Arrow tonight and have a little chat with him. Roy?” Roy all but jumped out of his seat. “Yeah?” he asked, his eyes wide open. “You’re coming with me.” She could tell he was constantly trying to keep his mind busy with things to do so he didn’t think about Thea and going after her. He’d pretty much demanded Roy to take care of the entire club, he was running absolutely everything.   
“Hello?”  
“Hey, Lucas! It’s Felicity!”  
“Oh, hey!”  
“Sorry I ran out on our lunch, I had a meeting with my boss and he doesn’t like me very much so I didn’t want to give him an excuse to fire me.”  
“You’re fine, you don’t have to explain yourself, I understand.”  
“I was thinking maybe I could make it up to you with dinner?”   
“Magnificent! Why don’t you meet me at Paraiso?”  
“Oh, I was thinking maybe something a little more… homey.” Oliver squinted his eyes at her.  
“Would you like to come over for dinner at my place?”  
“I don’t know. What are we having for dinner?”  
“I make a mean Pasta al Pesto.”  
“Sounds delicious. What time should I be there?”  
“7 work for you?”  
He gave her his address and they said their goodbyes. She hung up first.   
“Homey?” Oliver asked sarcastically. “I couldn’t think of another word.” She glanced at her watch. “I have to go get ready.”  
And get ready she did; She put on that black dress she bought a long time ago and never got to wear. It was tight and short and strapless and hung to all the right places. When she walked into the lair, Roy was talking to Oliver, whose back was towards the door. “And don’t forget, you stand behind me and only intervene.” Roy nodded, and looked up to see Felicity. His eyes grew a little bigger and he whistled at her. “Who’s the lucky fellow?” Oliver turned to see what Roy was looking at and he didn’t even blink once. He just stared for a really long time. “Or unlucky fellow, I should say, because he’s not getting any of that.” Roy added. “Nope, Ms. Smoak is reserved.” Diggle winked at Felicity, who was blushing up to the tips of her ears. “You could even say… you’re smoakin’ hot.” He winked at her. “Thank you boys.” She patted her dress down her thighs. When she looked up at Oliver he was still staring. “Nope.” He finally said. “That dress is too provocative. It’s not for such occasion. If he wanted to hurt you, you wouldn’t be able to run away fast enough.” He argued. “If he tried to hurt me, you’d be right there, and believe me, these heels will hurt.” They were hurting HER already, she had no doubt these could seriously injure someone. He groaned and turned away. She sighed, dissatisfied with his response.   
“Ready?” Diggle asked her a while later. “Ready.” She assured him. She was in the driver’s seat, Diggle in the back seat. Oliver and Roy would bike there and park a block away, and climb up the fire escape. “Are we ready on the other side?” Diggle asked Oliver and Roy. “We’re set to go.” Roy answered. “I still think you should change that dress.” She heard Oliver mumble. “Don’t worry, I’ll make a mental note to take it off as soon as I get to his place.” She answered coldly. There was no response. “And Roy should really get another outfit that doesn’t stand out so much. If he keeps this up the headlines are going to read, ‘Vigilante and Abercrombie.’” Roy chuckled somewhat, and she started the engine.


	8. Dinner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity has dinner with Lucas and Oliver... interrupts.

She knocked three times, and he answered in five seconds. She counted, like actually counted in her head. He swung the door wide open; he was wearing a plaid shirt with jeans, and of course, extremely handsome. Bad people shouldn’t be allowed to be good looking, she thought, it’s very misleading. “Oh, wow, you look… Amazing.” He was genuinely speechless as he undressed her with his eyes. “Thank you.” She smiled and walked in awkwardly. “I feel under-dressed, but wow, you look... astonishing.” He complimented her again. He led her to the living room. There was a small love couch behind a glass center table with two wine cups and a wine bottle in ice. There were random candles on every counter. “It’s too much, isn’t it?” he asked, seeing her look around. “No, it’s… Nobody’s ever done anything like this for me.” She admitted in a low voice. Nobody had ever taken the time and energy to impress her this much. The most anyone had ever done for her was that creepy lax player that camped outside her dorm the entire night until she called the police in the morning. “Thank you.” She whispered. She turned around to face him and whispered again, “Really. Thanks.” It almost broke her heart that he didn’t mean it. He was doing all this for a reason, and she was here to find out why, she shouldn’t forget. She sighed and sat down. He poured her some wine. “I hope you like Pinot Noir.” He said. “Let me go check on the kitchen, I’ll be back in a few minutes, I’m still adding the final touches to the dessert, make yourself at home!” He finished saying this as he crossed the swinging door into the other room.

“Alright, Felicity, stand up and walk around, what do you see?” Oliver’s said in her ear. “Um, a dresser with pictures on it. None of him, though, it looks like models, or the fake pictures that come with the frames.” She whispered. She shuffled through some papers on the top, they were all addressed to the resident of the premises. She was going to throw them back in their place when she saw another envelope, handwritten, and addressed to Michael Hans. She stuffed it into her purse and kept walking around. “His name is Michael Hans.” She whispered. “Felicity, what do you see?” Oliver asked again. “Describe the room for me.” She sighed and looked around. As soon as you come in through the window there’s a table to the right, a bookshelf to the far right.” “What kind of books?” She walked over there. “Tolstoy type. Then there’s a large carpet over which there’s a glass table with wine on it. There’s candles everywhere, so try not to set anything on fire. After that there’s a hall to the left, a door straight ahead to the kitchen and the front door to the right.” 

Lucas came back in with two plates of delicious looking pasta with a green sauce on top. “I lack a dining table, I am so sorry.” He said, clearly embarrassed. “We can sit on the floor.” Felicity smiled and walked over to the table. He sat on the floor and she followed, sitting next to him. They ate chatting about this and that, but she didn’t give away anything personal anymore. There was a large invisible wall between them. She took another sip of wine every time his face got too close to hers. Eventually, he put his arm around her shoulders and scooted closer despite her clues. “Felicity. There’s something I need to confess.” He said. “Yes?” She turned to look at him. “I… I never thought I’d feel this way so fast. You’re beautiful, yes, but you’re so much more than that.” She thought she heard someone groan in her ear. “You make me feel things I’ve never felt before, you make me feel like fireworks in my stomach and like I’m floating on clouds, and I want you more than I’ve ever wanted anything or anyone in my life before.” He stared at her eyes, and then her lips. She should have stopped him there but there was a small part of her that missed being adored the way she used to be. He closed the space between their lips and then he was kissing her full on the mouth, his hand on her neck, pulling her closer and his other hand massaging her thigh. She didn’t even get a chance to breathe before he did this. 

“Felicity!” Oliver shouted at her over the mic. She pulled away, gasping. He seemed confused but before he could ask, there was a loud crash and the lights went off. Her heart was pounding like a drum in her ears and she stood as suddenly as the lights had gone off. She could see Lucas scramble across the floor heading towards the dresser. Oliver shot one arrow and his sleeve was stuck to the floor. He aimed another arrow and asked, “Who are you?” Lucas scrambled but was unable to move. “Take anything you want! Just leave! Please!” He shouted. “WHO ARE YOU AND WHY DID YOU BUG FELICITY?” He asked again and Lucas took a deep breath. Okay, okay, we can work something out, but I didn’t bug-” Another arrow shot through the air and his leg was stuck to the floor as well. “OKAY!!!! My name is Michael! Michael, okay!? Bat shit crazy ASSHOLE!” He yelled at Oliver. “Why did you bug her?” He asked again. “I got paid, okay? I’m a private investigator, my job is to pretend to be someone else. A man paid me to find out everything I could on Felicity Smoak, which by they ay is hard as fuck because that chick has more protection on her personal things than the president. Literally!” He seemed very pissed off. “Who hired you?” Oliver asked. “I don’t know. All I know is that he’s loaded. I got paid 20 grand just to find her address.” 

Oliver grabbed Felicity by the waist, pulling her aggressively close to him and jumped out the window. She was caught off guard and she choked on the scream as she landed on Oliver five floors below. “Get in your car.” He told her. She did as she was told, and by the time she started the engine, he was gone. “Um, Oliver?” She asked through the mic. “Yes?” He answered. “Where am I going?” she asked. “Verdant.” And that was the last thing he said the entire time she drove there. When she got there, Oliver ad Diggle were already there. “Where’s Roy?” she asked. “He wanted to finish the interview when you weren’t looking like you might throw up.” Oliver stated as-a-matter-of-fact. “Oliver, we can’t go back to the apartment.” She told him. “I know. We’re going to my new place.” He said, without looking up from his arrows. “Excuse me?” She asked. “You have another place? Were you planning to tell me you were moving out?” She asked him. “I wasn’t going to.” He looked up, confused at her inquire, as if it was outrageous to even ask. “Then why did you get a new place?” She asked. She felt a little left out that he hadn’t told her. “Felicity,” He started, getting up. He walked towards her and held her face in his palms. “I could never sleep soundly knowing you’re not completely safe. I need to know you’re okay. Why do you think I never want you out on the field?” He was staring deep into her soul through her eyes, and she felt more with his eyes than she felt the entire evening with Lucas. She lost her breath and glanced at his lips. The knob twisted and both of them jumped apart, as if they’d been caught doing something nasty. 

“Why do the two of you look guilty?” Roy asked, coming down the stairs with Diggle at his heels. “We brought food!” Diggle announced before they had to answer. “What is- Is this the diner Lucas coOkeD?!?” Felicity asked, seeing the green pasta. “Well, he DID rob us of our diner time, might as well give us diner.” Roy shrugged. Roy sat on the floor and both Oliver and Felicity joined him. “Are you coming, John?” She asked. “No, I have to get going, Laila’s waiting for me.” He smiled a cheesy smile and went back out. “So what’d you find out?” Oliver asked Roy. He chewed more slowly and looked at Felicity, Oliver and back to Felicity a couple of times. “If there’s anything you need to say, you can say it, it IS about me, I deserve to know.” She encouraged him. “Well…” He put his plate down. “I found out that the man who’s looking for you, he’s, well, your father.” He said, looking at the ground. Felicity could feel Oliver’s eyes on her to see her reaction, but she was practically frozen. Her father? No, he’d run out on them when she was a girl. He was a drunk, a mean old man. A BROKE drunk, mean old man. “I think I’m going to hit the sack now…” Roy murmured, and quietly left.

“Are you okay?” He asked. Felicity pushed the pasta away and leaned on his shoulder. His arms immediately circled her in a protective pose, and after a few uncomfortable moments, he picked her a few inches off the ground into his lap to embrace her properly like a baby. She didn’t complain or reject his childish mannerisms. Her father? No that couldn’t be right. And as her head laid there against his chest, and she breathed in his after shave and shampoo from this later afternoon, she realized that someone HAD done something great for her, better than a fancy diner or staying out in a car all night. Oliver had protected her, and saved her life time and time again, and most importantly, he had given her a family. She wrapped her arms around his hard figure, thinking for a second about how that salmon ladder really paid off and slowly, and without realizing it, fell asleep. 

Oliver sat there with Felicity in his arms, fast asleep and breathed in her scent. He didn’t think it in his head, he never formed the words together, he knew what he felt and he knew what he wanted to think, but he had never allowed himself to think it even once. If he were with her she’d get hurt. Like Laurel, and Sara. Like his mother. Like Thea. He couldn’t allow that to happen to her. No. He didn’t want to think about the reason why, he wouldn’t think about the reason why. But why not? What’s the harm in thinking it? He wasn’t saying it out loud, he wasn’t showing it in anything he did or any way he spoke or acted towards her, right? So why couldn’t he? He looked at her calm face and wanted to stay like this forever. Where she could stay safe and calm where nothing and nobody could get to her. Why shouldn’t he?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really excited cuz I already wrote the scene when they (*wink wink*) for the first time, I just have to get there. yay!


	9. Her father

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver takes care of business :p

When she woke up, Felicity found herself in a strange place. She was in a large white bed, in a very fancy bedroom with a large window with a view to the city from above. Everything around her was white and large and fancy and made her feel like she’d been put in a psych ward. On the pillow next to her head was a note that read, “Good morning, breakfast is waiting for you in the kitchen. I’m getting all your things, I’ll be back soon. You’re under my version of witness protection. If you open any door or window an alarm will go off, so stay inside.” She sighed, and fell back on the bed. How much longer would she have to wait? She suddenly noticed she wasn’t wearing her pants. Her face grew warm as she spotted them neatly folded on a seat across the room. She jumped off the bed, pulled them on, and went outside to explore the apartment. All of it was sophisticated, and rich. She wondered how many people owed Oliver a favor. She felt a pang in her chest as she realized he was cashing in his favors for her. He wanted to take her away from her father, whom she loathed. The word loath didn’t quite grasp the energy with which she hated his very existence, though. He had been abusive and neglecting and her mother had deserved much better. In the kitchen a cheese omelet waited for her, along with a cup of orange juice. She ate her breakfast and then went on a scavenger hunt for any computers.   
She was about to look in the drawers when the front door made a clicking sound, and the knob twisted. Immediately she ran and hid in the bedroom closet as the door opened. There was silence, the sound of the door closing, the click of the lock, and step towards the bedroom. There was silence for a very long time and she thought her heart would jump out when the closet door was opened form the outside and there stood Oliver, confused. “Why are you hiding?”” He asked. She scoffed, trying to hide her relief and fright at the same time. “I thought you were a serial killer!” She shouted at him. He laughed at her. “And you think the closet’s the best place to hide?” He mocked her. She gave him her stern look and pointed around the apartment. “What’s this?” She asked. “An apartment. See, in our culture, people tend to live in these boxes they call home where they seek shelter from the harsh weather outside and from the heat and snow.”   
“ha ha, very funny, yes. Oliver, I thought you were broke!” She said. “Oh, I am.” He said. She thought about this for a second and then asked. “Broke, like, you don’t have money for food? Or broke, like, I used to be a billionaire now I’m only a millionaire, broke?” He looked up and chuckled, not answering. “Oliver!” She sighed, exhausted. “What can I say?! The company doesn’t pay me minimum wage, exactly, I can make a decent living paycheck to paycheck. I’d just rather do it where I know someone doesn’t bug you. Literally.” He shrugged. She rolled her eyes. “So what am I supposed to do here all day?” She asked. “Felicity, you’re not under arrest. This is closer to the company. You won’t have to drive as far, we’ll come and go together, and you’ll be surrounded by people at the office. You’ll never be alone. We can go get the rest of your stuff now, if you want. But I think we got pretty much all of it.” He glanced at a shelf. “Are those my books? Oliver, I need more than just my books! I need my clothes and-” “And if you let me show you, you will see that all your things ARE here.” He glanced at the wall and for the first time she noticed a slight line on the wall that was hard to see because of the decorations. “Is that-” She looked back at him, wide-eyed, and back at the wall. She made her way to it slowly, a smiling creeping up on her face. “No way, you’re lying.” She looked at Oliver again, laughing and grabbed the crevice of a “rock” and pulled. Inside was her bedroom. Of course it wasn’t her actually bedroom, but everything was exactly as it had been in her own apartment. “I thought you could use a bit of home.” He said, suddenly standing inches behind her. “You’re my home.” She said, and noticing how that sounded turned around quickly to explain. “I mean, your company is my home, because I spend so much time there, not that I’m complaining, the lair! That’s my home too because that’s where I spend most nights, and that’s yours too, and I’m just going to shut up now.” She turned around, embarrassed, and entered her room. She felt so happy, she actually giggled, which she’d never actually done. “Aannddd…” He slid a door open whch she thought was her closet but there was something hanging there in plain sight. “No.” She said. “Yes.” He answered. “Ahh!!!! Oh my GOD, OLIVER!” She ran and snatched her new QC ID badge that stated she was the head of the IT department. “Thank you!!!” She shouted and ran to him without thinking, wrapping her arms around his neck. His arms immediate circled her, and he could hardly breathe. She pulled away just enough to see his face, deep into the windows of his soul and said with a soft voice. “Thank you,” and bit her bottom lip. He stared at her for a couple seconds, still holding her, and murmured, “You’re welcome” as he glanced at her lips. “Erm, you can let go of me now.” She whispered, and Oliver realized he hadn’t released her. “Oh.” He said, taking a step back. There was a knock on the door and her eyes grew wider. “Who knows we’re here?” She asked him. “Don’t worry- That’s just Roy, I asked him to drive your car over.” He said, opening the door. “Star labs called back! It’s ready!” Roy shouted as he walked through, and when he saw Felicity he stopped short, bit his lip, and looked at Oliver like a scared puppy. “What’s ready?” She asked Oliver. “Nothing, a little project.” He said, glaring at Roy. “Oliver!” He sighed. “I had them make some clothes for Roy, I don’t want him to be on the news as Abercrombie guy, like you said. It’s just that… I had them make something for you too. But you’ll have to wait until yours is done.” “WHY?” “BECAUSE. It’s a surprise.” He said an turned away. “Geez, it’s like you’re married already.” Roy murmured, but only Oliver heard him, which earned him another glare. “Anyways, I found his address, he’s here in SC.” Roy continued, loud enough for Felicity to hear. “Here?!” She asked, panicking. “We’re gonna pay him a little visit, right?” Roy asked Oliver, excited.   
Houston Smoak sat on his desk, rubbing his temples, when the lights went off. “Damn.” He murmured and stood to go check with the office manager. He opened his office door and the first thing he saw was his guard, laying on the floor, unconscious, and then he saw them. Two men, one dressed in green and the other in red, both holding bows with arrows pointed right at him. “Who are you?!” He shouted. “What do you want from Felicity Smoak?” The one in red asked. “Nothing! She’s my daughter!”   
Felicity’s fingers grazed the keys on the computer swiftly as she hacked his bank account. “Ask him who’s been depositing millions into his account!” She told them.  
“Who do you get your money from?” The one in green asked. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He grunted. There was a swift sound and an arrow landed two inches from his neck. “What the hell is wrong-” Another landed on the other side, much closer than the first. “I had a little problem with one of my buddies.” He finally said, sweat coming out his every pore. “And?” The one in green edged him on. “And he has all the money he could ever need or use, he doesn’t want my money… He wants her.” He finally said. There was silence on the other end of the line, and Oliver knew she’d heard. Of course she’d heard. Angry, he shot five arrows, pinning him to the wall. He walked over to him and got three inches from his face and, with his scariest voice, said to him, “Nobody. DO you hear? Nobody is going to put a finger on her. Not you, not your buddy, not anyone. Not as long as I’m breathing. You’re going to go away. You’re not going to come here again, or talk to her, or follow her, or acknowledge she exists at all.” Houston nodded his head, clearly frightened. The old fat man had nothing against Oliver. “I found his files on her.” Roy said, throwing things out of his desk drawers. “No! Please, those are the only pictures I have of her!” He shouted. Oliver snatched his wallet out of his front jacket pocket. “Liar. Your little friend had to see her from somewhere.” He took the picture he had in his wallet, and tossed it to Roy, who already had a small fire going, burned everything. “No!” The fire alarm went off and Oliver jumped out the window. “What’s his buddy’s address?” He asked Felicity. She answered, barely. He took the ear piece out, handed it to Roy and demanded he go and stay with Felicity, to which he nodded. Before he left, he grabbed Roy shoulder, and he flinched. “If anything happens to her, I’m coming after you.” “Got it.” Roy answered. “Where are you going?!” He called after him. “I have a buddy that’s waiting for me.”


	10. Nemo

Two days had gone by. Two. Whole. Days. She told everyone at the office he’d come down with the flu. Felicity was walking down a hall when she heard some of her co-workers talking. “SHE would know, the slut. I bet you she spoon-feeds him soup and give him sponge baths before giving him pussy. I don’t see what he sees in her though! I think he must be going crazy or she must be a freak in the sheets!” She cleared her throat as she walked by and pretended she hadn’t heard anything.   
She went into the bathroom, locked the door, made sure nobody else was inside, and for the next half hour she let herself break down. She didn’t sob loudly and dramatically. She just sat there quietly, tears running down her face, sitting on the couch they’d senselessly put in there last year. She wondered if someone put it here specifically for this reason. Where the hell was Oliver? She wasn’t upset because of the comments people made, she was used to that. Or because he’d left her alone I that big old apartment. She’d die before admitting she’d spent the last two nights in his bed instead of hers either way, though. She was upset because she wasn’t sure he was alive. It’d be her fault if he was dead, she should have warned him quickly before he made any rash decisions. She should have told him what her father did. He wasn’t just another drunk who spent his night at casino machines. She wished that was all. She composed herself, let her eyes clear out and walked out like nothing was wrong.   
After work she drove over to the Lair. Roy was upstairs re-stocking Verdant listening to sad songs on repeat thinking about Thea, and Diggle was with Laila at a doctor’s appointment. She sat at her desk, closed her eyes and let her head fall back heavily. “Bad day at work?” She jumped, and shrieked simultaneously. Her fits were clenched on reflex, and then he saw Oliver leaning on the steel table wearing nothing but his briefs. She had the need to look away but he had cuts and bruises all over his torso to his thighs. “Oh my GOD!” She ran to get the first aid kit. She doused him with alcohol, at which he clenched his teeth and groaned. “Felicity.” He said once. She didn’t stop to look at him. She grabbed the shot of morphine. “FE-LI-CI-TY.” She finally looked at him, his bottom lip was broken and swollen ad turning blue. He looked more worried about her than himself. “How was your day?” “Oh shut up!” She was mad at him now for making her go through all that now that she knew he was safe.   
She pulled down his briefs on one side, feeling extremely self-conscious. She knew this was the only place she could give him the shot because everywhere else it was broken or bruised, and he knew that too. But her hand touched his briefs, she touched his ASS. She knew her face would be red when he looked at her again, and just hoped he wouldn’t say anything. She quickly removed her hands and cleaned all the small cuts so give the morphine time to kick in before sewing his two deep cuts. One of them was above his left knee, and the second one she did was much higher. Much closer to his groin. She tried infinitely to focus only on the cut, but she could almost FEEL him staring at her as she finished the cut. He wrapped his ribs in case they were bruised and not just the skin, and brought him ice.   
She helped him waddle to the cot he kept there in case of emergencies. “Better?” She asked him. He smiled. That shot of morphine may have been a bit much, she thought. “Felicity, when you- How did you put it before? Oh, yeah- when you play doctor with me I always feel better.” And he winked at her. She sat next to him. “What happened?” She asked. He opened his mouth, closed it, and then said, “There… were a lot more men than I expected. A regretfully some of them ended up dead.” He answered. “Oliver, you hate doing that, you shouldn’t have done it. You shouldn’t have gone, not for me, you put yourself through all this.” She pointed at all of him. “How else am I supposed to sleep when I know there’s a dangerous gang leader slash drug smuggler who wants you? I can’t, Felicity. You need to understand that you are the whole purpose behind the vigilante now. I have failed at trying to keep the city safe. My friends and my family. I’ve failed all of them, and I’ve put you in danger too many times. I will make this city a safer place for you. But I need you, YOU, to never again be in harm’s way.” It felt as though he was staring into her soul as he spoke. “I think I gave you too much morphine.” She whispered. “Nope, it was the perfect amount.”   
“And, Oliver, I’m not Nemo, you can’t keep me safe all the time.” She added. “See, that’s a horrible example,” Oliver said, his eyes wide. “If that little bitch had kept his son in the anemone, he wouldn’t have been caught by the human and trapped and only escaped because he was thought to be dead!” She seemed very proud to come up with that all on his own. “You watched that?” She was surprised he even knew what movie that was. “It came out before the Gambit sank. I remembered it occasionally while on the island.” He shrugged painfully. “Felicity?” He asked. “Hmm?” She looked up. “Tell me about your dad.” She sighed and hugged herself. “He… was a drunk.” She kept her eyes on the ground the entire time. She’d never shared any of this with anyone else. “He was a mean, abusive drunk, physically and emotionally. He used to hit my mom for anything and everything. He was addicted to the alcohol and the drugs, and brought everything home. He just- called me names most of the times. But I think he cared about me a little though. Because one day he just up and left and we never saw him again.”   
There was a moment of silence and then Oliver said, “Come here,” He extended his arms, and she went to them without thinking much about it. He winced a little when she leaned her head on his shoulder but he didn’t move. “Why were you gone for so long?” She asked him. “We had a little sleepover party while I was there. I made sure he knew who I was and why I was there before he… Fell asleep.” He whispered. She smiled and buried her face in his chest. She usually never let her guard down, but her wall had fallen down as soon as she’d seen him leaning against the steel table she realized. “Ready to go home?” He asked her. “Yes!” She answered, getting up to help him up. “By the way, what happened to my apartment?” She asked him. He chuckled. “It’s still there. We’re actually going there now.” “What about all my things?” She asked. “Don’t worry, I called some guys who packed and moved everything back.” He flinched getting up. “Serves you right.” She poked his chest. “And next time, there really is no need to move. That was a bit exaggerated.” He threw on a shirt. “Was it?” He asked. She gave him a look and he smiled wider. “I think I’ll leave the club to Roy. He does everything anyways.” Oliver said, hearing the sad songs playing overhead. She let him struggle to put on the pants himself, but shamelessly stared at him as he did so. A girl couldn’t deny herself ALL the pleasures in life, right?  
“I don’t think you’ll be able to vigilante-work for a few days” She said.  
“You think so? Man, I was looking forward to that.”  
“There’s a company gala for New Years in a week.”  
“Want to come with me?”  
“I’d love to.”


	11. Pull-ups

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> things get steamy awkward when Oliver helps Felicity with her exercise.

Felicity sat next to Oliver on the couch staring at the TV screen exactly six days later. Since the incident, things had calmed down dramatically, at least for now. It seemed criminals got a look at something more dangerous than themselves and decided to take a break too. So, instead of staying at the foundry, waiting for disaster, they sat in their apartment watching a TV show she’d been meaning to watch and never got the chance before. “Soo…” Oliver glanced at her quickly from the corner of his eye and back at the TV. “How many boyfriends have you had?” He asked. “Since when do you care about my personal life?” She asked him to cover up her shock. “Oh, come on! I don’t not care! I’ve just never had the chance to ask.” He said. She went back to staring at the screen and waited a minute before answering.  
“Five.” “Five?!”He did a double-take. “What’s wrong with five?! You’ve had like a zillion!” She exclaimed. “Not a zillion! Before the island shouldn’t count!” She gave him a glare and he sighed, accepting defeat and turned back to the TV. My first boyfriend was in senior year high school. I don’t know why I dated him, he couldn’t figure out how to solve an algebraic equation.” Oliver nodded, without looking at her. “And then that creepy lacrosse player who spent nights in his car outside my dorm. He wrote me poems ad dedicated every song he heard to me. He was extremely cheesy. Then Connor and his obsession with cars!” She rolled her eyes. “Maybe he had very good taste when it comes to cars!” Oliver said, remembering his own fascination with cars. “No, no, this guy would literally kiss his car goodnight. He would clean it every day and he’d made me take my shoes off before getting in the BACK seat.” She shook her head. “Oh.” Was all Oliver could muster up, “And then I dated Sam.” She didn’t say anything about him. “What’s wrong with this guy?” Oliver, teasing her a little. “Not… he.” Oliver’s eyes all but popped out from their sockets. “You dated… a girl?” He asked, ignoring the TV now. “I didn’t DATe her, date her… We just sort of… nevermind.” She kept her eyes fixed on the TV. The police radio came on then, and they both jumped off the sofa and ran to get dressed.   
“We have a 206 on Ashford Drive. Armed men driving a BRINKS truck, keeping two drivers kidnapped in the back, use caution if shooting.”   
By then they were both changed and running to the car. “I’m driving!” Oliver shouted and she threw him the keys. She had barely sat down when he hit the accelerator. She managed to close the door as he zoomed out of the city. “You’re dressed in a hoodie?” She suddenly noticed. “I can’t let anyone see me as Arrow leaving the apartment with you.” He explained. They swerved on the corner and he shook it off as he parked in front of Verdant. Inside he grabbed his arrows and got on the bike. “Ear piece!” Felicity threw it at him, and he was gone. “OK, felicity, where am I going?”  
“Make a left… Right… Cut through Greek Road…. Right there, heading right towards you…”   
She heard the sounds of shots, and then they stopped. She hated this part. More than anything else in the world. She heard his voice a little later, “Untie them.” There were some scrambling sounds and then footsteps running away. She faintly heard the police sirens, two arrows releasing, and a bit later, the bike. She sighed and let out a big breath. She waited for the bike sound outside and straightened her hair, and started doing the new update the system needed, pretending she wasn’t fazed at all.   
“That was fun. I haven’t done that in a long time. A simple catch, threaten and go kind of thing.” He smiled. “Yeah.” She agreed with her words. He threw off the vigilante clothes and put on sweat pants before starting a work-out. “I think we should let Roy do more.” She said after a while. “More?” He asked, between pull-ups. “Yeah. He should do more than just the club. He should be more distracted.” She said, fearing his thoughts would return to Thea, who clearly didn’t want anything to do with him. She’d left behind no trace that Felicity could track, which was saying a lot, since Thea seemed to have had no expertise in disappearing. “You’re right.” He let go and fell to the ground. “Come on.” He pointed her towards the bar. “Me? Ha, no, I don’t have the upper body strength needed for that.” She joked. “Come on.” He said again. “I’m no dressed!” Felicity was running out of excuses.   
Truth was, she just didn’t want to be so close to him when he was shirt-less and sweaty and so, oh, so, yummy looking. “There’s clothes for you in the bathroom. Go change.” She rolled her eyes. Of course he would. And now that she was changing that meant she’d have to work out more. She’d actually been spending some free time at the gym, at first only because of the big belly Big Belly Burger was giving her, then because she actually felt better about herself. She was kind of excited about showing off that she wasn’t as ‘tiny and defenseless’ as he made her out to be.   
She came out of the bathroom with her poker face on. “Okay, stand here.” He placed his hands on her hips to face her towards the bar. “And your arms,” He slid his hands up her arms, standing behind her, all the way to her wrists, “And face them this way.” He turned her wrist. “Now I’m going to help you up by pulling your legs up, it should make it easier for you.” He said. He placed his hands on her calves and pushed directly up, letting her do a push-up effectively without doing anything. “Let me try by myself.” She said quickly, praying her voice wouldn’t break or shake because her heart was beating faster than any heart should. Especially when she hadn’t even started working out. “Are you sure?” He asked, and when she didn’t answer, took a step back. Felicity sighed, closed her eyes and taking one big breath, pulled her body weight up, until her chin was above her fingers. She slowly let go and pulled up again. There was a weird satisfactory feeling about it.   
She focused on this exercise for a while, forgetting to count, just thinking about his hands on her hip and his hands sliding slowly up her arms. She was thinking about those same hands sliding up her dress, or her back when she felt Oliver’s arms around her bottom. His face was literally right in front of her navel, and he was looking up at her. “What?” She asked. “You’re going to tear muscles if you keep straining them like that. They’re shaking.” She noticed for the first time that her arms were in pain; and not just a little pain, they felt like they might fall off. “Oh!” She yelped a little and let go. Luckily, because Oliver already had hold of her, she didn’t fall. She let her fall into his arms like a bride and carried her to the mat. “That. Was very impressive.” He told her as she rubbed her arms. “Thank you. I’ve been working out in secret.” She said, proudly. “I don’t know about in secret, but it has no escaped my attention.” He said quietly. She pretended she didn’t hear him.   
“Here.” He put some clear gel into his palm and, extending her arm by taking her hand, started spreading the gel all over her skin. “What is that?” She asked him. “Hirudoid cream. It’s good for your muscles’ pain.” He kept rubbing until all the gel was practically gone and then started on the second arm. “You know…” She began. “You could do massages for a living if CEO doesn’t work out for you.” He looked up at her and laughed. “You think so? I was planning on opening a massage therapy institute around the corner.” “Seriously?!” She was shocked, but seeing his face, she started laughing because he’d actually made a joke. “Ohmygod, that feels good.” She whispered, her head falling back as his hands moved to her neck and slipped barely below her shirt to the top of her back. “Oliver, you have magic fingers.” As soon as the words came out, her eyes widened and she opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out at first, and then they burst out. “I mean you have magic fingers because your massage is really good, on my arms, I mean, not that I would know if you have magic fingers or not, but you probably do, I mean, as a compliment, you look like someone who would have good fing-ger skills and I’ll shut up now.” She face palmed herself, refusing to look up at him. He chuckled silently and didn’t answer. He stopped massaging her and she felt some movement around her so she looked up and was startled to find him three inches from her face. He was leaning forward, staring intensely into her eyes, and she stared back, wanting to melt into his eyes, to swim in them naked, to feel free and let go of any and every prohibition she ever had. She wanted to kiss those lips and never come up for air, she wanted to- and then she was kissing him. She moved herself closer to him without thinking or realizing what she was doing. She pushed his back slowly against the floor mat, his hands on her waist and straddled him, both legs on either side of his hips pressing against him in every possible way. She kept kissing him, passionately, her lips and mouth making love his until he gently pulled away and looked into her eyes.   
“Felicity?” Seeing his confusion she realized what she’d done. It hit her like a million bricks all at once. She got off of him, grabbed her bag, got in the car and drove home without looking back. He hadn’t gone after her, she knew he’d stay away from her for a while, and she used this time when she got home to shower and stayed in the steaming shower for long after she was clean to let the heat wash away her shame, but it did no good to her.   
\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Oliver saw her come towards him fast, he saw the raw lust in her eyes that he’d never seen before and before he knew what was happening she was kissing him, full on the mouth, and he’d never felt so aroused in his life. He grabbed her waist to pull her closer and let both of them fall on the mat. She leaned over him, pressing her middle against his, moving in ways he did not know she was capable of moving. Her hips rubbed up and down on his and for a second that was all his mind could think of, and he imagined what it’d be like if they were naked. He started kissing her back, he loved her taste. She didn’t take like anything specific, she was just sweet, and her sweat smelled good at that moment. It wasn’t gross sweaty, this was completely different. She was radiating, and he felt himself grow hard, which he was sure she could feel. His face, which was already red from the kiss, became an even darker red, if that was possible. Were they about to have sex in the middle of the foundry? Where Roy or Diggle could walk in at any moment? No, he couldn’t, he had to protect her from his life, from himself, if he couldn’t even do that… But oh, he wanted to so bad. Did she want him as much as he wanted to be with her? He pulled away from her kiss just enough to be able to speak, his hands still lightly resting on her hips. “Felicity?” Was all her spoke. He guessed he should have been more specific because in that moment he saw reality hit her between the eyes. They grew big and glanced quickly up and down at themselves, and around the foundry. He could have sworn, as she got up, the mouthed “Oh God.” But he didn’t hear anything but the sound of the door slamming. He was felt alone on the floor mat, staring at his hardened self and then fell back to the mat. “Great.” He murmured.   
A little while later he opened the door of the apartment. Her bedroom door was closed, and the apartment was empty except her keys were next to the door and the car parked outside, so he knew she must be in her room. He left the bouquet of apology flowers on the kitchen counter and went to knock on her door. There was no response. He opened the door and saw a large human bump under the comforter. “Felicity? Maybe we should talk.” He said, walking in. “Go away.” She said. “Felicity, if you don’t talk to me I’m taking your glasses.” He threatened, seeing them on her bedside table. She sat up straight away, pouting. “What do you want?” She asked. “I’m sorry.” He said. “Sorry for what? Sorry you fell for me, Felicity, I know you couldn’t help it, I’m so perfect.” She was mocking him. “Sorry I don’t like you, you’re a bit too nerdy for my taste, I like idiots like Isabel.” She continued. “Sorry-” “Felicity!” He interrupted her. “Who said you’re nerdy?” She shrugged and sank under the covers again. “And who said I liked Isabel?” He added. “Is that why you ran away? Because you thought I would never like you?” She groaned. “Felicity, you are a very beautiful woman.” She didn’t say anything. “Will you at least talk to me?” she still didn’t answer. “Alright. I’m going to give you some space. Will you at least come with me still to the gala?” He asked. “Hmmkay.” She murmured. He got up, smiling and walked out of the room. “Goodnight, Felicity Smoak.” He said, right before closing the door.


	12. The Gala

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> wink wink

She put the flowers in water in a vase when he wasn’t there, he noticed as he sat in the living room waiting for her to come out. The gala had already started but he didn’t mind being late, that was kind of his thing now anyways. “Are you ready?” He called. This, however, was not Felicity’s thing, which is why he’d rushed, and now was confused, and wondering if she was okay. “I don’t think I’m going to go!” She called back. He groaned, got up, and walked to her door. “I’m coming in!” He warned and opened the door without waiting for her to respond. “Oliver, NO-” He saw her standing in front of the mirror completely stunning. This was the first time he’s seen her since yesterday and she was SO beautiful. Her hair was curled and she was wearing a short, tight black dress that zipped all the way up the front. It hugged her breasts in all the right places, making them larger than they usually looked. Her legs were mostly exposed and she had on tall black heels.  
“Wow.” He said. “Do I look okay?” She asked, turning back to the mirror, seeming to be traumatized. “No, not okay. If you walk like that into the gala they’ll name you CEO of the company.” He joked. She threw him an ‘I’m-not-taking-your-crap-today’ look and tried to make her dress longer. She actually felt uncomfortable because OLIVER was the one looking at her. She could almost feel his eyes on her skin. Her cleavage. Her legs. Her arms and neck and everything and her ears turned red. “Come on, you look perfect.” He whispered, and ushered her out of the apartment.   
As soon as they stepped into the gala everyone looked at her and her alone. Nobody listened to the CEO’s speech because who the hell cared about his little rough patch? Felicity Smoak was actually hot, and this IT tech was accompanied by the one and only Oliver Queen. Everyone seemed to think simultaneously, ‘so THAT’S what he sees in her.’ Liz specially spent half the night glaring at her until Felicity couldn’t take it anymore.   
“They’re STARING still, Oliver. I’m going to go home.” She was turning around when Oliver turned her back to him. His hands were on her waist briefly and a shock ran through both of them, remembering the last time he touched her there. “They’re not even trying to hide it anymore.” She said, looking at the floor. She was too embarrassed to talk to talk to any co-worker and too embarrassed to look at Oliver. He put his fingers under her chin and nudged her face him to look at him. “Don’t worry about what others think.” He said. She sighed, thinking, he’s right, why the hell should she worry herself with what anyone thinks anyways? She took a drink as a waiter walked by and chugged it down. “Okay. I can do that.” She said. She didn’t drink to be at ease, she drank to try to forget what happened to them last night. But, unfortunately, because of her past with liquor and growing up in Vegas, she was very hard to get drunk despite her ‘small’ body (small is in the eye of the beholder, who was to say she was small? She was huge next to some other people).   
She took a couple more shots but felt only the slightest hint that she might be having some effects when she actually wanted to dance and truly didn’t care who was there. Who’d dance with her? Oliver? As she got close to him, she could hear his whispering to himself.  
“Why hasn’t she called though?” Oliver asked again, staring at his phone as if he could make Thea call. “Oliver!” Felicity slipped her heels off and stumbled over to him, which was quite a feat, seeing as how she was wearing that one short dress. “You. Cannot worry about her every move.” She said, taking his phone. She was a little tipsy, Oliver realized. “Maybe you should slow down with those.” He raised one eyebrow. “What? No, they’re delicious.” He chuckled, watching her walk among her co-workers in the office, who were all staring at her. The company gala was so much more interesting with a drunk Felicity in it.   
Near the end of the night, she was dancing with herself to the song ‘faster’ by Matt something. Oliver glanced around, seeing most everyone was gone, and those who were still there didn’t stop to think it’d be rude to continue to stare. He walked over to her. He grabbed her hand and twirled her around, pulling her in and letting her out. She started laughing and seemed as gleeful as he’d ever seen her. “You’re dancing!” She shouted at him. “You’re drunk!” He shouted back at her. She threw her head back laughing and kept dancing, knowing she wasn’t really all that drunk, but their assuming she was gave her an excuse to act wild without being judged as a maniac. At the end of the song, he twirled her into his arms so that there was no wiggle space, and their faces were so close she could feel his breath on her lips.   
There was that spark that he’d felt between them the day before and she couldn’t take it any longer. “We should get out of here.” She said, trying to whisper. “Did you think this through?” Oliver asked her, shocked that she’d be the one to suggest it. “Not at all, but I don’t want to.” She murmured. “Okay.” He smiled at her, and pulled her by her fingertips out the door, running down the hall, giggling loudly. Some security guards stared as they passed. “Felicity, you know there’s no need for running.” He told her. “I know,” she stole a glance at him before she kept running. “But it’s more exciting, like titanic.” She dropped her shoes, which she’d been carrying in her hands and left them there. Oliver followed, leaving one shoe then the other, and then his black socks because without shoes they just look ridiculous. They finally got to the street and called down a taxi. She said her address and turned to Oliver and placed her hands on his chest, while she kept glancing at the driver.  
“Shhh.” She whispered at him and scooted as far away from him as the back seat allowed, crossing her legs, which only made her dress scoot further up her thigh. Oliver could hardly breathe just looking at her. When they arrived Oliver threw the money on the front passenger seat and they jumped out of the cab, running, still barefoot towards the door and up the stairs. “You know, for someone who claims to be strong, you’re awfully slow, sir.” She said, opening their apartment door. She threw her scarf on the couch, and ran to his bedroom. He slowed down, smiling. He locked the door, and loosened his tie. When he entered the room he found her jumping on his bed like a five-year-old. He just smiled, and then she let her entire body fall/sit on the bed.   
“Mr. Queen, sir, how was your day?” She said in a mocking voice as she took off his tie completely. “It was very exhausting, Ms. Smoak, how was yours?” He played along. “Lonely.” When she said this, there was a hint of truthfulness in her voice, but she quickly continued. “But then a very nice man invited me to a party.” She unbuttoned his shirt slowly, taking in his chest and scars, which she had seen so many times in the Lair, but never in the darkness and privacy of four walls and a bed. He wrapped his arms around her and slowly unzipped her dress. “This man sounds like a nice fellow.” He whispered into her ear. “Yeah.” She managed, breathless, as she pushed his shirt off and he pushed her dress off her chest. While she was staring at his hand as it made their way down from her shoulder to her elbow, his other hand held her chin and nudged her face up so she could look into his eyes before he bent down and kissed her full on the lips. In shock she didn’t move for a few seconds, and then she opened her eyes and there he was, Oliver Queen, right in front of her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he, his arms, around her waist, picking her up so that they were at eye level. He scooted to the bed, where she got on her knees, still kissing him, and pulled him on by the belt holes on his pants.   
“Felicity, are you sure-?” He started in between kisses. “Shut up. Stop thinking. I’m tired of thinking.” She said, and kissed him again. She finished slipping off her dress, and Oliver kicked off his pants. He held her with one arms and laid her down gently on her back, leaning over her. “Felicity.” He whispered. “Mmm.” Was her only response. Her hair fell around her face, covering most of the pillow and Oliver realized he could not be more in love with any other human being than he was with Felicity at that exact moment. He realized that even if she stopped him, horrified that he’d let it get this far, he’d love her till the day he died and many, many more days after the world seized to exist. His heart was beating in his ears and her blood felt like it was boiling. His palms were moist and she was out of breath and it was not by any means the perfection she had always imagined. This was better. She rolled over him so that she was on top, and straddled him like before. She began to move her hips up and down and this time she felt him get hard and it only made her kiss him more passionately, with more hunger than the day before.  
“I love you.” They both froze, and stared at each other. “Did you just-” “Ignore that.” Oliver said, and kissed her to shut her up, and hopefully make her forget it slipped out of him. She pulled away, and said, “No, but you just-” “What happened to stop thinking?” “What went out the window when you said-” “Still applies.” And he kissed her again. He unlatched her bra and she felt her face grow red and warm, embarrassed as he slipped it off. He kissed her lips, her jaw, and slowly dragged his lips down her neck, and clavicle, and the cleavage of her bosom. “You’re beautiful.” He said. She laughed, out of breath again as his fingertips toyed with the hem of her panties. She was glad she picked today to match her underwear. She grabbed his hands in an adrenaline shot of courage and pulled them off and then she was on fire. She was naked in bed with him, with Oliver Queen, and she shouldn’t feel special, many women had been where she was now but had he looked at them the way he was looking at her now? Did he kiss their belly button? Drag his lips so sensuality to their hips? Their toes? Their navels? No, she didn’t think so. She felt her skin crawl with lava, the tingling that shuddered down her spine everywhere he touched. He pulled her hips up, slipped off her underwear, and gently made love to her. He made her back arched off the bed, and her toes curl. She ran her fingertips through his hair, and let her head fall back into the pillow. He caressed her sides and her back and intertwined her fingers with his. He made love to her again and again as she bit her lip. The sweet sounds that escaped her lips made Oliver groan. He’d never wanted someone so much and he’d never been so happy in his life. She chose him. Of all the men in the company that he knew lusted after her, and of all the men in the streets that stared as she walked by, of all the men that he loathed more than anything in the world, she’d chosen to be with him, for some reason. And as she fell asleep some time later, she could have sworn she heard him say it again, quietly, as she rested her head on his chest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (I've been working on this for a while, I've never written anything this... exotic before, and I feel uncomfortable reading too explicit ones so idk how I did, but I hope you liked it?)


	13. Central City

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> morning after pain in the ass

“Uh-oh.” She whispered. She opened her eyes and saw Oliver’s chest. Her eyes slid up to his neck, chin, nose, and finally his eyes, which were open, and looking right at her. She just stared at him, waiting to see his reaction. “You’re not running away.” She noted after a while. “No. I don’t seem to be running.” He answered, almost smiling. Almost. “Are you upset?” She asked, already knowing the answer. Of course he was upset, this shouldn’t have happened. “You didn’t sneak out.” She added. “It has not escaped my attention either.” He said in the same monotone voice. “What are you thinking?” She asked, slipping the sheet to cover up until her chin. “I’m wondering if I should be mad at you for seducing me, be mad at myself because I took advantage of your drunk state, or if I should make love to you again.” He was startled by his truthfulness. She had that effect on him, he seemed to spit out what he was thinking around her, he couldn’t keep his thoughts in a straight line. She knew her eyes got bigger, and cleared her throat and looked away to disguise her reaction. “I wasn’t that drunk.” She murmured. “What?” “I’m very hard to get drunk, you forget I grew up in Vegas. I wasn’t drunk.” She admitted, looking out window. He sighed. “Then I didn’t take advantage of you. You just, what? Purposely seduced me?” He asked. “No. I- I-” she didn’t know how to word what had happened last night. “You say it like it was a bad thing.” She finally gave up. “It WAS a bad thing, Felicity!” He sat up, looking at her, expecting her to understand like you would expect a five-year-old to start adding numbers. “Why? Why can you sleep around with every vagina that gets within a hundred meters of you and you won’t even look at me?!” She asked, getting upset at being treated like a child. “I don’t expect you to understand I-”  
“What?! You’re too good for me? Too rich? Too damned uptight? What is it that is so untouchable about me, damn it?”  
“I can’t!”  
“Can’t what?!”  
“I can’t lose-”  
“So this is about you again? You think you’ll lose, what, profits, if you’re with me?!”  
“I can’t LOSE YOU! I’M NOT STRONG ENOUGH!”  
She finally shut up, out of breath, sitting on the bed, sheets strapped around her chest, arms crossed. “So, where does this leave us?” She asked him in a normal voice tone. He stared at her, clearly mad at being pushed into shouting what he wasn’t comfortable with. “I think you should stay away from the foundry for a couple of days.” He said, grabbing his clothes off the floor and walking out of the room butt-naked.  
She sighed, wanting to cry but being hyper aware that she was in his room and he might come back any second. She waited until she heard the front door slam and sneaked to her room. She slipped on her pajama dress, slipped under her covers, and let herself cry the rest of the morning, until she finally fell asleep in the afternoon.  
She woke up again around 8 pm. She took a shower, got dressed and walked out of her bedroom. She walked to Oliver’s room but found it completely empty, and his key next to hers on the table. She slowly closed all her blinds in case he was watching from another building, and went back to her bed, without crying, without tearing up. She cleared her throat, and went to sleep. She needed to get as much sleep now, she’d need it for later.  
The following day by noon she had managed to effectively quit her job at QC and applied for an IT department manager at another company in Central City, where she could see Barry and his friends, and maybe find Thea. She had called in movers who had managed to move all her things into a truck by mid-afternoon. She had found a perfect one bedroom apartment she could afford and had cancelled her existing phone number and gotten a new one, right after saving all her contacts into her new phone.  
By night time she was in CC in her new apartment, sleeping on a couple of comforters on the floor, too tired to bring the mattress into the bedroom that same night. The movers had left everything in her new living room. It would take her FOREVER to get everything settled. She spent her days at the company, Central Transit Smart (CTS), and most of her nights moving everything out of the boxes, she didn’t have the superhuman strength she’d found in her anger that day so she just passed time and worked and went through the motions every day, almost like a robot. She was eating noodle soup one Friday night in front of the TV when she left disgusted with herself. What was she doing with her life? She hadn’t even told Barry she was in CC. She felt a sour taste come up her chest and barely made it to the bathroom in time. Great, food poisoning, she thought later, as she cleaned up her noodle soup from the toilet seat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to take a break here- She goes through the motions and knows nothing about Oliver. I'll include his POV in the next chapter. But from this moment, I'm going to skip three months into the future, where Felicity is well adjusted to CC life, and she still knows nothing of Oliver. But then *gasp* something happens that forces her to go back. Sorry this one's really short, but it's an important chapter because of what goes on in that short period of time and I'm not gonna waste your time and mine making it longer than it needs to be.


	14. Surprise! (not really)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> she's still feeling sick and Barry urges her to go to the dr.

She was out with Barry and his friends that night. She’d managed to get them to like her, even after she endangered them with the whole Slade problem. She’d kept up with Detective Lance, who was now fully functional and out of the hospital for two months. She’d only been in CC for three months now but they’d been wonderful. She didn’t have to worry about saving Oliver’s life every night. She only worried that someone who hated him would come after him. Like Slade, if he got out of the cell, and off of Purgatory. It was highly unlikely, but she still checked the apartment for bugs, and closed all the blinds, and tried to keep a low profile at all times. She’d kept working out regularly, which was great in so many ways for her. She’d bought bullet proof glass windows and three more locks for the night, plus the alarm, of course. Barry walked her home, and as she opened the door she felt woozy. “Whoah, there.” Barry held her up so she wouldn’t fall. “You are going to the doctor. Tomorrow!” He demanded. “Fiinneee” She’d been putting it off more and more this last couple of days, she didn’t want to know if she had some sort of sickness. She hated being sick. “You were super stressed when you moved here and the stress made you sick. Are you stressed again?” He asked, leaning in super concerned. Felicity gave him a look and he sighed. “Okay, I get the hint. You never say if you’re stressed, or sad or-” Felicity cut him off. “Barry!” “Okay! Okay. Goodnight.” He said, and leaned in to kiss her, but she moved her face and he ended up kissing her cheek. “Goodnight.” She smiled at him and he nodded, and let himself out. She sighed when the door closed, and locked all three locks on the door before zig zagging her way to her PC. She felt horribly, leading on Barryonly to turn away form his affection but she didn’t feel ready for any kind of relationship. She opened up the searches and found nothing on Thea Queen. Should she tell Oliver? She was nowhere to be found, she never mounted that train. She’d been at Roy’s place during the incident, but she couldn’t go there to talk to him, she only imagined that she’d left him during that time when he went to the tunnel to help. She shook her head and went to go take a shower. She’d have to make up her mind soon. If she’d been in CC three months, Thea had been missing for six. 

Oliver sat across the street from her apartment and saw as she turned on the bathroom light, waited half an hour, and then it turned off. He’d found her, finally, really found her. He wanted to go burst through that door on his knees and beg for her to come back. But would he really do that? Put her in danger again? Ask her to leave the life she’d gotten used to? Even if it DID have Barry Allen in it? He couldn’t possibly be that selfish. He watched as she turned off the bedroom light and sighed. He closed his eyes and turned around to make his way back to SC, where he belonged. He tried to think that he was needed there more, but even with a serial killer on the loose there, he felt more like he needed to be with Felicity more.

"Before you say anything, I’m only here because I’ve been a little dizzy, probably from not getting much sleep and I only came because my friend forced me to.” Felicity babbled when the doctor walked into the office. “Well, then that’s a good friend.” He said, shaking her hand. “Now, Ms. Smoak, I’d like to ask you a few questions.” She nodded.  
“How much sleep have you been getting the past four months?”  
“Umm, I don’t know I recently moved to CC, so not much? I’ve been moving everything out of the boxes.” She moved her hands when she talked.  
“How has your diet been?”  
“Umm, well, I do casually enjoy a burger every other weekend, but other than that pretty good.”  
“Exercise?”  
“I exercise every day for at least an hour.” She’d started doing that for her own safety, now that she knew what kind of people were really out there.  
“Have you been sexually active in the past four months?”  
She bit her bottom and said, in a much smaller voice. “Yes.”  
“Frequently?”  
“No.”  
“With more than one partner?”  
“I’m sorry, how does this have anything to do with my health?” She asked, feeling that the questions were getting too personal.  
“Have you been throwing up?”  
“Yes! I was sick a couple of weeks ago because of all the moving stress and I had some issues to resolve, but that stopped, all I’ve been feeling now is dizziness.” She stated. She was clearly upset. The doctor sighed and sat on a stool right across from her, and started writing on his prescription pad. “I have a feeling you won’t stay much longer, soo…” He passed her the prescription pad and she saw the medicines. “I’m not pregnant.” She looked up at the doctor. He just stared at her. “I’m not pregnant!” She shouted at him. He sighed. “Ms. Smoak, we did blood tests before your appointment, remember?” She shook her head. “I can’t be.” She murmured. “It was only one night, for heaven’s sake.” The doctor shrugged, “it only TAKES one night, Ms. Smoak. Surely an intelligent lady such as yourself knew that already. Have your clothes started to feel tight at all? You’re not really showing all that much now.” He said, staring at her abdomen. She scoffed and stormed out of the office, crumbling the prescription pad into her purse.  
She parked in front of her apartment and saw Barry standing in front of her door, with two bags in his hands, probably Chinese food. She groaned and stuffed her CVS g deep into the bottom of her bag. “Barry!” She sounded surprised. “Hey! I thought you’d need to relax, I know you hate doctors. I also know you love Chinese food. I brought you dumplings.” He smiled huge, like a little boy proud that he did well on a test. “Oh, I love you, thanks so much.” She opened the door and he went straight to the living room table, sitting on the floor like they always did. Suddenly, her… medical condition, made sense as to why she’d been craving Chinese almost every day. She shook that thought form her head and went to sit next to him. “Movie Marathon?” “Movie marathon it is.” They started Harry Potter and the sorcerer’s stone and ate quietly until the movie was over. “Hold on, I’ll go get the second one.” Barry said, getting up. He was walking the table where her table was when he stumbled and accidentally her purses ended up on the floor, its content spilled all over the floor. “Oh my God, Felicity, I am so sorry!” Felicity ran to the purse to shove the bag inside before he saw it but when she got there it was already too late. He grabbed the CVS bag from the wrong end and the pregnancy test fell out. For a second they both just stood there staring at it, Barry feeling confused and Felicity embarrassed. “Um, is that yours?” He asked, handing it to her. “Oh, don’t touch it, it’s gross!” She murmured taking it into her own hands. “It’s in a BOX.” He said. “It’s for a friend.” “Why can’t she get it herself?” “Her dad won’t let her.” “Her DAD? How old is she?” “Barry go away” She started pushing him towards the door. “Felicity!” He didn’t get a chance to finish before she slammed the door in her face. She was mortified, and slid down to the floor, leaning against the door so she wouldn’t fall on her face altogether. “Oh God.” She whispered. So much for a simple movie marathon.  
Later the doorbell rang. When she looked through the peep hole all she saw was a bouquet of flowers as big as they could possibly come. She opened the door and Barry’s face appearance from behind the flowers. “Can I come in?” He asked. She sighed and pulled the door so he could come in. “Barry, I’m sorry about before, it was rude and-” “Don’t be sorry, I was imprudent and you had every right to kick me out.” He placed the flowers on her table. “But- I would like to make an offer.” He said turning around. He bent down on one knee and said, very carefully, holding her hand. “Felicity Smoak, will you marry me?”


	15. I found Thea a proposal and a Lie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver and Felicity see each other again/ Barry's a little crazy

“Oh, no, Barry. Please get up.” She begged him. She literally didn’t know how else to make him get up. “Barry get up!” She pulled at him. “No. Not unless you say you’ll marry me, Felicity, I want to do this for you and that baby. I know we said we wouldn’t talk about it because it was a mistake, but we need to talk about it now.” She cringed. She wanted him to forget about it. “How hard do I have to hit you for you to get amnesia?! Barry get up!” She yelled at him. She had tried her best not to think about that night because it completely ruined everything she wanted to remember with Oliver. It was a stupid mistake. With Barry Allen, no less. “Felicity, I am not leaving my-”   
“I don’t know that it’s yours!” She finally yelled. He stared at her for a couple seconds before understanding what this meant. He stood up, cleared his throat and looked at the floor for a few quiet seconds. “I see.” He sighed and then looked up at her again. “I don’t want to know whose baby it is, though I think I have a pretty good idea. I will be the best dad ever, Felicity, I promise, I’ll do everything I can and do the very best for this baby, I’ll love him or her more than anything in the world, I-”   
“Barry, stop.” She couldn’t handle it anymore. She could feel her eyes begin to sting and tear up and her face grow hot. If only her own father had made half the effort Barry was promising. She didn’t want to wonder whose baby it was. It was hers, and that was enough. But now Barry knew, and what city would she escape to next? There was no way in hell she’d be going back to Vegas, ever. “I can’t talk about it anymore, Barry. We both know that night, we, us, that wasn’t meant to be. It was a mistake. I let it get too far and I’m so sorry. But we agreed to never talk about it to save the friendship.” She was literally drunk off of her ass that night. She didn’t even remember anything the next morning. She remembered two days later, and she only remembered bringing him to her apartment, she never did remember having sex with him. It had been nothing special. Her skin didn’t burn where he touched. She didn’t lose her breath. She didn’t arch her back or curl her toes. He wasn’t Oliver. He was a mistake. She shook her head, and fell on the couch, desperate to be alone. “Felicity, marry me.” He said one more time, and as tears streamed down her face, she shook her head without looking at him. “Barry. Just. Please. Go.” She managed to say and she heard the door close behind him.   
She was pretty miserable for a while, but the computer alarm went off and she put herself together and went to the computer. The alarm that had gone off was the face recognition anywhere within 100 miles of SC and CC. Thea’s face was spotted 35 miles west of CC. Her fingers quickly grazed over the keys and soon she saw the picture. Sure enough, it was Thea. She was different though. She was wearing an all-black suit with a hoodie, her eyeliner covered practically half her face and in her hand she carried… a bow and arrow? No. She picked up the phone and dialed the one number she knew to call.  
“Hello?” Oliver used the vigilante voice.   
“It’s me.” Was all Felicity could say.   
“Felicity?” His vigilante voice was gone.   
“I found Thea.”  
“I’ll be there in 30.” He answered and hung up. She nodded and put the phone down. Her first immediate response was to hide her purse, or at least, the CVS bag. God, I do not need Oliver to freak out too, she thought. How did he even know where I live? Gasp* did he stalk me? Have I not been as good at hiding as I thought? If Oliver could find her, she had to have been doing something wrong. Should she hide the test, or just take it and throw it away? Better throw it away, that way he won’t find any evidence of it. Or would she want it later? She stopped rambling to herself and went to pee on the stick.   
She paced around the bathroom without looking at the stick for five minutes. Five. Whole. Minutes. She tried not to bite her nails, so naturally she nibbled on her cuticles, which she knew she’d pay for later, but she was a stress eater and there was nothing to eat in the bathroom. If she left she’d run the risk of Oliver getting here early and seeing it. She groaned and heard her phone timer go off. She took a deep breath, stood in front of the mirror and looked at the test. The little, pink plus sign was staring her in the face like a deer in headlights. How could this happen? The doorbell rang and she threw the test into a plastic bag and ran to hide it in her panties drawer. She opened the door and Barry was there.   
“Barry, I really don’t have time for this right now, I’m waiting on a friend and I-” she started but was interrupted. “I have one thing to confess and I’ll go.” He said. She nodded for him to continue so she could get back to freaking out and also because she kind of felt bad for being so mean to him. “I lied. When you asked me if something happened and I said yes, and you got upset because you were so drunk that you didn’t remember.” She opened her mouth but he stopped her. “You fell asleep before anything happened, saying over and over again how much you missed Oliver so nothing would have happened even if you didn’t fall asleep, so that’s not my baby, but if you would just think about it, consider it, I’m here for you Felicity.” He looked so ashamed that she couldn’t even be that mad at him. Oh wait, she could. “How could you?!” She closed the door in his face, angry, but also relieved, more so than any time in her life. So she wasn’t a slut after all. She sighed, and fell on the couch, happy, actually for the first time that day. And then she immediately felt guilty. This guy, this beautiful stranger of a man that willingly proposed to her to be the best dad her child could have, really must like her a lot to make that kind of promise. She ran to the door to see if he was still there, but when she opened it Oliver was standing there and boy, oh, boy, everything came back rushing to her. The way he looked at her, the way he stood around her so protectively, the way he had kissed her and his hands had touched every inch of her, and the way it felt to have him inside of her just made her feet tingle. Or did she just need to pee again?   
“Hi.” He said, smiling despite the urgent tone in his voice. “Hi.” She murmured, moving out of the way to let him go by. “I like your place.” He said, quickly moving towards her PCs. She’d meant to ask how he knew where she lived but left that for another time.  
“Where is she?”  
“A couple miles from CC, apparently hiding in an abandoned warehouse. I guess the same taste runs in the Queen family. She’s with this strange man, but I can’t figure out who he is, the system checks for every living person in the country, I don’t understand why it’s not coming up with anything!” She was frustrated. Oliver leaned down and saw the profile of that strange man, his face became more broodingly dark, and his eyes flared with rage. “I know why.” He stood up straighter and looked at her. “Because that man is not alive. That’s Malcolm Merlyn. Her father.”


	16. A not-so-hospitable Thea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They try to go get Thea but she knocks them out and disappears again.

“You mean, like… A ghost? Is that why the camera didn’t find him?” Felicity took a small step backwards, away from the screen, as if the ghost of Malcolm Merlyn might pop through and take her away. “No, I mean, you said the camera only searched every living person and Merlyn is registered as not being alive.” He explained. She thought about how she would make the face recognition work for deceased people and wondered if she really wanted to know the results. “Okay, so what do we do?” She asked. Oliver sighed and turned back around to look at her. His eyes were so oft and gentle and he took a step forward, cupping her ace in his hands. “I want you to stay here, safe, and no go there. To the warehouse. Can you do that?” He asked. “NO.” She answered faster than she thought possible. This was all too much like the night he set her up for bait for Slade to take away, saying he loved her when it was all just one big lie.   
“Felicity-” She interrupted before he could make a valid point. “Stop, Oliver. I found her, I get to go.” She said stubbornly. “Okay, but after we get her back, we need to have a chat.” He said. She nodded; they definitely needed to talk.   
She got her intel out, reproached him for letting Diggle stay in the car and made him come inside, gave them both earpieces and they were on their way.   
The warehouse was dark when they entered from the back door. It was dirty and empty except for some construction materials in the corners. Oliver stopped and searched the premises with his eyes first. He took a step and there was a click under his foot. “Damn.” He murmured. He turned to Diggle. “Get her out of here.” He told him, glancing at Felicity. Diggle was about to pick her up to take her out against her will when he too stepped on something. “DAMN!” Oliver shouted. The floor looked perfectly flat, the bombs they stepped on were majorly small, and in such a dark place, they were invisible. “Felicity, DON”T MOVE.” He said, trying to think of what to do.   
“Alright! I’ve got this!” A voice came from the upstairs section of the building. Roy was up there, a rope in hand. “I believe you’ve done this before, my lady!” He shouted. Oliver cursed. “He wasn’t supposed to be here. He’s the reason she left in the first place, I thought we went over this already.” He spit through clenched teeth at Diggle, who shrugged, guilt-free. Roy jumped off the railing and came swooping down, snatching Felicity and barely holding on to the railing on the other side. “Come on,” He whispered, clearly straining himself. She grabbed the top railing, one leg first and then the other, then pulled Roy over as well. “What about us?!” Diggle shouted. “I’ve got something very important coming in two months, I’d like to be able to see it!” His face was pale. “Come on, Felicity, I found the control center, they must be out right now because their computers are un-occupied!” he winked at her like it hadn’t been months away and grabbing her hand led her down to a small office. The technology was far more advanced than what they had and she suddenly felt sheepish. She missed telling Oliver what she needed and getting it delivered to the foundry the next day. It was like her birthday every time it happened. She quickly hacked into their system and shut down their security and defense mechanisms. There was some clicking under the men’s shoes but despite their heart skipping a beat, they both could move now. “Now what would you have done without Ms. Felicity and I here to save your butts?” Roy bragged Felicity by her waist and walked towards them. His fingers held her around the lower abdomen, and he stopped half way there and looked at his hand, confused and then at her. His eyes grew big and he opened his mouth but she begged him with her eyes and prayed that he understood.   
“You okay? Need a moment?” Oliver seemed to be a little upset, and pulled Roy with him as he walked by, away from her. Diggle gave her a weird look, and looked at Roy. “You okay?” He asked. “Yeah!” She nodded, too enthusiastically. He frowned, not believing her, but followed Oliver and Roy nonetheless.   
They all froze when they saw Thea in the same outfit as the photo. Up close she really did look like an entirely different person. She was wearing high leather boots, black pants and a black leather hoodie that reminded Felicity all too much of Merlyn. Her hands were empty and a shadow covered most of her face. “Thea.” Roy gasped. His mouth fell open and he let out a breath Felicity could have sworn he’d been holding for moths. “You shouldn’t have come.” She said from the shadows. “Thea, please come back.” Oliver whispered. “Why would I? The only person who’s ever been truthful with me about everything has been Merlyn! You lied to me about who my father really was, just like mom! And look at you! You’re the vigilante, Oliver! That’s why you were always upset, that’s why you were always injured! And you got Roy into this mess too!” She shouted. In the empty warehouse you could hear the heartbreak in her voice. “So no, I’m not going back. I’ve decided to spend a little quality time with my biological sperm donor.” She stated with lackluster. “Thea, please.” Roy begged. He took a step towards her and a sword they hadn’t seen before appeared in her hands faster than their minds could process what had happened. “Stay away from me Roy. You lied to me too.” Felicity felt the obligation to pull Roy back next to her. He stumbled, his thoughts filled with incoherent words and emotions. “Diggle pretended to be your driver when he was in on the plot all along, wasn’t he? And Felicity, what? Was your booty call when you spent late nights working?” Oliver’s teeth clenched. “She’s not a booty call. I only dragged Roy into this because it was the only way to keep him safe and alive at the time. And Diggle wouldn’t even talk to me when he found out, he called me a murderer. As did Tommy and Laurel. So I don’t need judgment form you, Thea.” He said. Thea nodded, and chuckled, which made Felicity’s hairs stand on the back of her neck. “You think everyone around you is so great, don’t you? Felicity, tell me. Does Oliver know?” She asked, and Felicity took a step back. A reflex. A need to run out of there as fast as she could manage. Roy and Diggle kept their eyes away from her and Oliver because they’d figured it out. Of course they knew why she ran away, of course they’d asked themselves the same question she had. She held herself together and waited in silence for Thea to continue. “Does Oliver know…” She took another step back. “About your little surprise?” She finished. Oliver turned to look at her, confused. “Felicity?” He almost sounded hurt that Thea knew something he didn’t. “Of course not. Think about that next time you try to come find me.” She threw a small ball that released gas and before anyone could figure out how to not inhale it they were all passed out on the floor.   
They all woke up before Felicity. Oliver wen to see if the computers were still there, to take them and see what Felicity could figure out when they got out of there. While Oliver was out, Roy kneeled next to her and, feeling almost as if he was violating her, felt the small, barely visible little bump. She’d been trying to wear lose clothes lately, but that didn’t stop Roy from feeling her up.   
“Diggle, come here!” He whispered, and Diggle too felt the little bump. “Should we be din this before Oliver?” He asked Roy quietly. Roy didn’t get a chance to answer before Oliver shouted, “IS SHE ALRIGHT!” and came running down the stairs. “No, yes!!!! She is!” Roy grabbed her head instead of her belly to pretend. Oliver checked her pulse and her breathing and let out a sigh of relief when she opened her eyes. “How are you feeling?” He asked her. She almost melted because her insides felt swirly because he was looking at her, and holding her head on his lap. “I’m prefect.” She whispered and he helped her get on her feet. “OK, well, the computers are gone, as well as any trace of them ever being here.” Oliver said, disappointed. The sun was about to rise. “I think we could all use some sleep.” Felicity said, realizing how absolutely exhausted she was. “I have a nice couch and an extra mattress. We’ll figure it out there.” She said, and they all got in the car again, and headed towards her apartment.   
“Does Lyla know you’re here?” She asked Diggle as they walked into her apartment. “Yes. She’s not happy about it, but she knows.” He answered, and sighed, probably thinking of the trouble that waited for him when he got home.   
“You don’t feel dizzy?” Oliver asked, getting her extra mattress out from under her bed. “Nope!” She smiled. “Nothing hurts?” She shook her head. “Are you lying?” She looked at him over the top of her glasses and he nodded to himself, making a mental note of not aggravating her. Roy slept on the couch, and Diggle on the mattress in the living room floor, with Oliver on the other side.   
They all had trouble falling asleep, still feeling rushed from the gas. But eventually Felicity had a house-full of sleeping men. Around three in the morning she woke up startled, sweating, and knew she’d been twisting and turning because her comforter had fallen off the bed. She took deep breaths until she could breathe easy again and picked it up, but didn’t want to go back to sleep; she’d dream again of Oliver dying, or Diggle or Roy. It was always one of them three and she couldn’t take it anymore. She tip-toed to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. Roy turned and Diggle murmured something about Lyla. She went to check on Oliver but he wasn’t on the mattress. She turned round and half ran to her room where she found him looking under her bed and out her window.   
“What are you doing?” She asked him. “Making sure it’s safe. I couldn’t sleep without checking.” He answered and got closer to her. “Are you happy, Felicity?” He whispered. She shrugged. “It’s okay. It’s nothing like SC.” She answered. “Barry made me think we had sex for three months before telling me I was so drunk I actually just fell asleep.” She giggled, and then realized maybe she shouldn’t have told him that. He narrowed his eyes and pursed his lips. “Okay, you’re right, that’s only funny when you’re sleep deprived.” She sighed and looked sideways. She could smell him, his aftershave. She could reach out her hand and touch his chest. She could close the door, lock it, and have her way with him. She could-   
“Are you and Barry… dating?” He asked. She shook her head. “Are you?” She asked. “Dating Barry?” He chuckled. “No, I can’t say that I am.”  
“I meant dating anyone.” She corrected, smiling. “No, I’m not.” He answered, running his fingers through her hair. “You had a nightmare.” It wasn’t a question. “Yes.” She looked at his chest. “Come on…” He intertwined his fingers with hers and led the way to the bed. He lay under the covers and extended one arm for her to join him. She jumped into bed and curled up against his hard, warm figure. It was like holding on to her guardian angel for dear life and she didn’t want to let go. Her head fit perfectly in the crevice of his shoulder, where she could smell his soap and sweat mixed together form running all the way to CC. Her left leg fit comfortably slightly over his leg, her arms around his waist, his arm around her shoulder, it was amazing that two people could fit together so harmoniously and perfectly and not be together. “What are we doing?” She asked him. “I’m right here. I’ll stay here all night long, protecting you.” He played with her hair again. “You can sleep this time.” He whispered.


	17. the unfolding of more events

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diggle tells Felicity the sex of the baby and Oliver confesses some feelings to Felicity, but their olicity moment is interrupted. Ahhhgggg!

Felicity did sleep that night. Better than most night she’d spent in that apartment anyhow. She woke up the next morning still in his arms, and way too early. This gave her time to think that she very much did not want to have because then she started to wonder things like, how the hell did Thea know about her pregnancy? Or was she even talking about the pregnancy? Maybe she knew that Barry spent the night here and thought they’d been together as she’d believed herself. She couldn’t tell Oliver. He didn’t feel the same way about her as he did for her. He wouldn’t understand her need to have this baby. She could almost hear his excuses already: They didn’t lead a baby-worthy life, he wasn’t ready to be a father, and the baby would be in danger. The list just went on and on. She snuggled closer to him and cherished the moments they were together, imagining they didn’t have many left. She couldn’t think about any other option but to have this baby. She didn’t know him or her and she already loved it. It was a part of Oliver that she got to take with her. It almost made up for lying and putting her as bait to save the city. Even though she knew it was for half a million people’s lives, she still felt that selfishness crawl into her sometimes. She wouldn’t have wanted him to say I love you to another woman, even if he was lying, but she didn’t want him to lie either. She looked at his face, so peaceful, and smoothed her fingernails over his scratchy beard, and a soft groan escaped his lips. She played with the hem of his T-Shirt, and dragged her fingers slowly down his abdomen until she reached his navel. She reached under his shirts and touched all his scars, memorizing him in every way possible.   
“Felicity stop.” He murmured, as though he were in pain. When she looked up she realized he was cringing. “Does it hurt?” She asked, alarmed. Then she realized, if anything hurt, it was inside his pants. She sighed, pulling her hands out of his shirt, but it was too late for Oliver. He rolled over her and closed the space between their lips. At first she responded with as much vigor as she had the first night, but realizing what she was doing she pulled away from him, sitting at the edge of the bed without looking at him. She didn’t say anything or even look at him as she left the bedroom, closing the door behind her. As soon as she did this, she ran her fingers through her tangled her and let out a sigh to take away how much she wanted to run back into that room. But what did it all mean to him if he didn’t love her? She was already a one-night-stand mistake, she refused to become his constant booty call.   
“Morning sickness?” Roy asked, seeing her face. She raised one eyebrow at him, and as he walked by, he hugged her from behind, rubbing her tiny bump. “Ohhh, yes, I know, and so does Diggle.” He chuckled and went to the kitchen. Here, Diggle had made everyone a toast with eggs. “Sorry, I didn’t want to empty out your fridge.” He said. “it’s okay, it’s not very often I have company that eats my food.” Most of the time Barry brings me take out and leaves me the left overs, she almost added. “So when’s the due date?” He whispered. “September, I guess...” She answered. Oliver came out of her room then. “Morning, sleeping beauty!” Roy called out to him. “Does he know?” He quickly asked. She shook her head and he nodded at her. “We need to find Thea, probably leave Felicity alone now that we’ve emptied her kitchen.” Roy told Oliver. “We can track form the Queen mansion. And now we know she’s with Merlyn, which is more than you managed to gather in the past six months.” He narrowed his eyes and Oliver pretended not to hear.   
“Soo…” Felicity said, looking around the kitchen for breakfast. “What’s been happening in SC?” She asked. “Well…” Diggle started. “Oliver is CEO again, he’s managing, but you should really come back, you’d make the company as good as it was when that fake CEO was there.” He glanced at her reaction sideways, but she kept her poker face on. “And he fired half the IT staff…” Her head snapped up. “Why? Did something happen? Did the systems shut down? Did they break my babies?!” She freaked out. Hmm, no, they were just… fired. It was kind of funny, they tried to sue Oliver for firing them without justification.” His chest shook when he laughed. “Why DID you fire them? WHO did you fire?” She asked Oliver, momentarily taken away from her being upset at him. “They were bullying Roseta.” He said blankly. “Who’s Roseta?” She asked. “New girl.” He said. She looked at Roy and Diggle for confirmation, but they just shrugged, unaware of anything that came out of Oliver’s mouth. “Anything else?” She asked. “Lyla’s having a girl.” Diggle said. “Oh my God! Johnnyyy!!! CONGRATS!!!” She hugged him, and kissed his cheek. “Have you decided on a name?” She asked. “We keep going back and forth. I want her to be Ava, she wants her to be Isabella.” He was smiling from ear to ear though. “Well,” She told him, “Be sure you let me know when she’s arrived so I can welcome her personally.” She winked. “Oh come on, Felicity!” His face was suddenly straight. “What?” She felt attacked. “You’re seriously not going to come back? The company’s a mess, Oliver handles the company, he doesn’t know how to reach it’s max potential so it’s going to crap-”   
“Thanks.” Oliver murmured before Diggle continued.   
“Roy needs you to help guide him in a way that Oliver and I can’t, he’s obsessing with stupid shit because he can’t get over Thea leaving him, and then you, and keeps saying he repels women. And I can’t babysit them 24/7, I need to be with Lyla now. I don’t even know how the club and company are still up and running!” He took a deep breath as though he’d been waiting a long time to let that out.   
She opened her mouth to talk but nothing came out. What was she supposed to say? She looked away from all three of them, unable to say out loud that she couldn’t come back because it hurt too much to know that Oliver lied. Was she really going to let the company fall and the club too because she didn’t want to see Oliver? Wasn’t there some way she could be there and completely ignore him? But if she did that, she’d have to explain her belly soon. She sighed.   
“How did you find me?” She asked them. “Not easy, you are very good at hiding.” Roy said, taking a spoonful of cereal into his mouth. “I can’t come back- I, I can help. Video conferencing. Skype. Calls. But you have to promise never to come see me personally again.” She said. She needed to get that out of the way. She was mad at him. Why did he think he could jus come talk to her whenever he please and it would be okay?  
“Wait.” Oliver spoke up. “Before we come to any agreements I think it’s time you and I have that talk we talked about last night.” He said. Diggle and Roy were instantly intrigued by the cereal’s texture before and after being in the milk.   
“Sure.” She said, and walked to the bedroom, leaving the door wide open. “What was Thea talking about?” He asked. Her piped up energy and anger vanished in seconds. “Felicity?” He asked when she didn’t respond, probably thinking she was mentally retarded. “What was Thea talk-”   
“I slept with Barry.” She cringed as the words came out, the words she spit out because she couldn’t think of anything else in the panic of the moment.   
His eyes were open windows to his soul, and right then and there his soul was broken, chattered, burned to ashes. How could she? How could she, after the night they spent together? Oliver cleared his throat and turned around, preventing her from seeing his eyes tear up. He wasn’t sentimental because she slept with Barry, he couldn’t care less about Barry the child. He was upset because he thought she cared about him the way he did for her. He thought he could read her pretty well, like an open book. But apparently he was wrong. “Well then. I guess we’re done here.” He said, and walked out of the bedroom, leaving Felicity standing there. Alone. Again.   
Angry she stomped after him, feeling her blood rush to her face. “Who the HELL do you think you are, Oliver Queen?!” She shouted at him. “Excuse me?” He turned around. “I’m not the one who slept with Barry.” Both Roy’s and Diggle’s head snapped up. “Did he say she slept with Barry?” Roy whispered to Diggle. “And how is that different from you sleeping with Laurel, and Sara, and Helena, and the thousand other girls that have paraded through your bed? Am I not allowed because I belong to you in some sort of way and didn’t know?!” She burst out.   
“Ok, we’ll just wait in the car.” Diggle said, dragging Roy from his cup of cereal. “Um, no.” Roy stomped Diggle’s shoe and whispered angrily at Diggle. “We can’t pick sides! If we get in the car we’ll be siding with Oliver.” Diggle’s eyes widened and he started thinking.   
“Felicity, you don’t belong to me, you just- He’s not right for you!”  
“I didn’t question you when you dated all those psychos! I kept my mouth shut!”  
“Well, maybe you shouldn’t have!”  
“What’s that supposed to mean?”  
Oliver opened his mouth but nothing came out. “Felicity!” He groaned. He walked over to her hastily, grabbed her shoulders with more force than necessary, proving that, yes, he was in fact, very angry at her. Frustrated was probably a better word, but he couldn’t think at the moment because his blood was boiling. He was in love with her, so much more than ever before, and yet, he was angry at her too. He pulled her face closer to his and smashed his lips against hers with brutal, unnecessary force. He pushed her lips apart, and pulled her closer, one hand on her waist and one hand in her hair.   
“Yeah, we’ll see ourselves out.” Roy said from the kitchen, his eyes just about to pop out of his face.   
“I can’t breathe when I’m with you. I can’t breathe when I see you, or when I touch you, or when I think of you.” He said in between harsh, passionate kisses. “I can’t make coherent thoughts when I kiss you, when I have you in my arms. I dream every night of sleeping with you. Of touching you everywhere.”   
“Oliver stop.” She sighed, but she really, really didn’t want him to stop. “Is that all you feel? Lust? And obsession because I say no? The thrill of the chase?” She asked him.   
He took a step back, the rawness of every feeling in his eyes still there, he was in pain from letting more space come between them. He didn’t want to stop, but what choice did he have? He was forced to think about her words, which he found very difficult when he was in the midst of passion and anger.   
“Damn it, Felicity.” He brushed his hands through his short hair. “I don’t want you because I get horny. I don’t want you because you play hard to get. I don’t want a fling, a short relationship. I thought I’d lose you that night, I thought he’d kill you. I thought he’d pull that blade into your skin and I could hardly think. I spoke words but I don’t know what they were. All I could think about was you dying, in my arms, and not knowing how I feel about you.” He sat on her bed, his face in his hands.   
“Really?” She whispered, but he didn’t hear her. “Oliver... There’s something I didn’t tell you.” She was about to go to him and tell him about the test she took when a dark shadow covered the light coming in through the window. She looked up and saw Thea and Merlyn. “Oliver we have a problem.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so i've noticed I have an inbox too. I usually just go through the comments on each chapter when see I have more but does it matter if I answer on the story or individually? If I answer it from my inbox will it post under comments too? I'm new to this, so sorry!!! 
> 
> and I LOVE IT when you guys say you like the story, this is the only things that keeps me sane! and I can shape the story into whatever you guys want, or if you think I should try new stories/prompts? 
> 
> *sorry for the overload of information! I'll get the hang of it pretty soon, promise!


	18. Biggest Loss of All

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity's apartment is complete trashed. What a shame. Sorry, I'm really bad at summaries that don't give away every little detail.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so, I had my finals this week so i hadn't posted anything since Monday, but I finished my also exam today, YAY! So here's a celebratory chapter.
> 
> There's a song I wanted you guys to listen to because it intensifies everything in this chapter for me, so I thought I'd share it!  
> It's called 'His Daughter' by Molly Kate Kestner. I hope even if you're not religious you appreciate the meaning of the song (it's about a girl, not god).

Oliver turned around and immediately he was on alert. He heard footsteps running inside and saw Diggle and Roy coming in. Malcolm broke the glass and suddenly everyone was everywhere. He shoved Felicity into the corner of the bedroom and tried to keep Malcolm and Thea in the center of the room, better yet, trying to get them out if possible. Thea turned out to be as good, if not better by now than Sara ever was after a decade being trained by the world’s deadliest people. She attacked Roy first, landing a kick into his stomach that sent him flying backwards into the wall, and walked after him. Malcolm was already pointing at Diggle with an arrow. He jumped on the end and kicked his arm has he released the tension, sending the arrow towards the wall. For a while he just focused on getting them out of the bedroom, which he managed to do with some effort; jeans were really hard to deal with. He somehow ended up between Malcolm and Thea, who was pointing the sword at his chest. “Do it.” Malcolm whispered. Thea’s face looked furious, but at the same time there was something in her eyes that he knew all too well. No matter how much she changed on the outside she’d never stop being Thea. “Do it!” Malcolm yelled, and her hand twitched. He winced, thinking about what he was about to do. “I’m sorry Thea.” He whispered and twisted his body, using his hands on Malcolm’s shoulder as support. He kicked her head, she fell and hit her head on the table on her way down. He corner Malcolm who smiled at him.   
“You think you won, don’t you?” He asked Oliver. “I see you in a corner. So yes, I do.” He said comfortably. “Well, I wouldn’t be so sure about that. Why don’t you ask your girlfriend Felicity?” He winked at Oliver, jumped forward and then out the window. “Felicity!” He murmured and ran to the closet. She wasn’t there. He ran to the living room, she he only saw Thea, Roy and Diggle on the floor. Frustrated he went and checked the pulse on all of them before running back to her room. On her nightstand was a note.  
‘You see her.  
Now you don’t.’  
He ran his fingers through his hair and he found himself alone for a second.   
Felicity was gone.   
His heart was beating in his ear.   
She wasn’t in her apartment.   
His blood boiled through him, rushing out of his face.   
He let them take her.   
He felt nauseated, dizzy. Maybe he needed to throw up. He was completely disgusted with himself.   
“Damn it!” He shouted and kicked the wall with as much force as he could, leaving a whole. He punched the wall and after pacing the room for five minutes, fell on the edge of the bed, exhausted, breathless, and most of all, miserable. He sighed, took a deep breath and got up. There was still someone who knew where she could be. 

Thea woke up and the first thing she noticed was that she was in some underground chamber. There was but one lamp swinging from the ceiling and the musky smell made her think there must be rats crawling all over and inside the walls. She realized she was strapped to a chair; her legs and arms and her entire torso. She tried to move the chair but realized it had been drilled to the cement floor. Where the hell was she? And then she was hyper aware of someone looking at her. In the corner she saw a pair of jeans and a red hood leaning back in a chair. Definitely not strapped to it, though. “Are you enjoying this?” She smirked at him. “Do you take pleasure in seeing me here? You’re proud, aren’t you? Roy got up. “I don’t enjoy seeing you like this, Thea. I pity you.” When he stepped closer into the light she could see he’d been crying, his eyes were pink. “You wanted something more, right?” She asked, relaxing her muscles. He shook his head and leaned in close to her face. She was exactly the same Thea that left but yet different. She was dark and twisted deep inside her and his stomach turned thinking t was because of him. Without thinking about what kind of reaction he’d get, he finished closing the space between the two of them, kissing her lips softly, suckling on her bottom lip, tasting her soul. She didn’t move, frozen to the spot, her eyes closed, even after he pulled away. “I wanted you.” He whispered. He moved away from her in a split second and before she could process what had just happened, he stepped out through a door on the fat side, leaving her alone to her thoughts.   
Oliver came in some time later. “I’m going to give you one chance, Thea.” He said as he entered. “Oh, yeah? Why don’t you tell it to someone who care, Oli?” She made a face, “Oh, wait! She’s gone!” Thea nodded, self-satisfied. Oliver got up to her face and murmured between clenched teeth. “I don’t have time to play games, Thea. What was it she was talking about? You said she had a secret.”   
“Aww, she didn’t get to tell you! Well see, she was going to make you a daddy. I don’t know how well that’s going to work out NOW, but she wasn’t going to tell you at all, as far as I can tell.” She shrugged. Oliver took a step back from Thea. Felicity pregnant? Felicity pregnant with his child. Or was it his child? Did she really sleep with Barry? He felt a knot in his throat. This entire scene proved why he should never be a dad. He’d out them in danger everyday of their lives, of his life, even though, ironically, every time he thought about the rest of his life, she was always there.   
“What do you know about Barry?” He asked her. He’d kick his ass so hard, especially now that he knew he was the ‘flash’ as he liked to call himself. He’d make fun of that, but come on, let’s be serious. “Well, I know that she lied to you!” Thea smiled. “It’s nice, isn’t it? When someone you care about lies to you? She told you she slept with him. It was a lie, even though she did believe it for some time. She was drunk as hell. Hope that doesn’t make your baby retarded.” He felt relief all through his body, the tingly sensation all the way down his spine. But now was not the moment to be grateful slowly. “Where’d he take her?” He growled. “Hmm, can’t tell you.” she shook her head. “Thea!” He shouted, pained. His face twisted, losing control. “My baby! She is my whole life, Thea, and she’s carrying MY BABY!” He got down on his knees in front of her. “I know you’re mad about dad, but he knew the truth. He knew you weren’t his biological daughter, and when it came down to it and he was about to leave mom and you and me, when he was about to abandon all three of us, he came back because of you. FOR you, Thea!” Her eyes started to sting and she gulped trying to keep herself from crying. “Thea, I want to be to that baby how dad was with you. Because despite his mistakes, he was nothing but the perfect father to us both.” Tears fell down her cheeks and she cleared her throat, keeping her head held high.   
“I won’t say anything until you release me.” She whispered. Oliver quickly undid everything that held her to the chair and she got up. “She’s in the warehouse on 55th and Shaks Avenue.” She started to walk away. “Where are you going?” He asked. “To complete my training. Maybe afterwards I can join your little crusade… Arrow.” She walked out the door and that was the last time he saw Thea for a long time.   
Now he had no time to waste. Roy and Diggle were already in the car. “What happened in the apartment CANNOT happen again.” Oliver growled, gunning the engine. After a minute he took a deep breath. “How are your heads?” He asked. Diggle and Roy looked at each other and decided not to answer. Roy was bleeding a little and Diggle had broken some knuckles, which made him wonder how the hell he was supposed to fight anything with. At a light Oliver and Diggle switched seats. Oliver changed into conspicuous clothes and got his bow.   
They crashed through the windows of the warehouse and found Felicity tied up to a pole, slumped on the floor, a rag tied around her mouth. Oliver ran to her, glancing around, and snatched the rag away.   
“Oh, my goodness! Thank God you’re here! That was starting to taste of puke.” She said as he undid her hand knots above her head. Her hair was completely trashed and even with her fully clothed he could see some bruises showing past her sleeves and collar and the side of her head was bruised. He cursed under his breathe. “Did you throw up?” He asked. “Um, not a lot.” She shrugged and he saw her slight flinch as she did this. “Come on.” He picked her up, cradling her in his arms and walked out the door as Roy and Diggle searched the premises. “Oliver, put me down, I can walk myself.” She complained. He groaned and put her down on the floor, when he noticed she was barefoot. “Your shoes.” He said. “Oh. I’ll go get them.” She turned to walk across the street again when the car came out of nowhere. There was a screech and Oliver jumped to push her out of the way, only it was too late.   
The car backed out of the spot, Diggle running behind him to get the plate and Roy getting the car to get Felicity in. “Hospital!” he shouted at Roy. “I KNOW!” Roy shouted back. He was cradling her in his arms again and felt something warm in his hand. He looked at it and his stomach churned. Blood.


	19. New Beginnings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> THE END! Enjoy!

Felicity opened her eyes and the light hit her almost as hard as the car did. She winced.   
“Are you Okay?” Oliver jumped out of the seat next to the bed she was lying on, ever letting go of her hand. “Are you in pain? I can call a nurse.” He about to push the button when she found enough voice to speak. “No, don’t bother.” He sat back down and kept staring at her with big wide eyes, terrified. “Oliver you look like crap.” She said, noticing he had his hair was a mess, his crumbled clothes looked like they could walk off on their own and his eyes were bloodshot. “I’m fine. I didn’t get ran over by a car.” He said. She sighed, flinching because her ribs felt fractured.   
“They are.” Oliver said. “What?”   
“Well, you said they felt like they were fractured. They are.” He explained. “I said that out loud?” She asked. “You talk in your sleep too.” Her eyes widened, and her face flushed, mortified as to what he could have heard. “How bad is it?” She asked. “Well, you only said my name in a couple of dreams, other times I couldn’t tell because you just moved and cried and moved and cried and-”  
“I meant my injuries.”  
“Oh. Well… You fractured your ribs. You died for a minute and thirty three seconds on the 24th at 5:42 pm. You had a concussion that caused a brain bleed now under control, you had a tube down your throat for a day because your lung collapsed also now okay, you had surgery to save your leg because you broke it, and your pelvic area was bruised.” He said in one breath. He looked away from her for a second. “My pelvic area?” Her voice broke a little. “Did the doctor say anything else?” He didn’t move, his face just twisted. “Oliver?” She asked one more time.   
“And you had a miscarriage.” He murmured, probably hoping she wouldn’t hear it. But she did, ohh, she wished she hadn’t, but she had, and it broke through her harder than Malcolm kicking her ribs while she curled on the floor. “Oh.” She exhaled a huge breath she didn’t know she’s been holding and simultaneously a sob.   
Seeing her face, Oliver immediately crawled into the small hospital bed, pulling her into his arms, and she dug her face into the crevice between his chest and neck. “Felicity.” He whispered. He didn’t need to say anything, nothing he said could make her feel better. He saw as her trembling hand moved slowly to her navel and with his hand he covered hers, kissing the top of her head. “I’m sorry.” He said. She sobbed for what seemed like an eternity until she ran out of tears and her head felt like it might explode. A nurse had come in a while ago to give her a relaxant but it wasn’t having any effect on her.   
“Oliver… The baby… I didn’t sleep-”   
“I know.” He whispered, and brought her head back to his chest. Her fists clenched on his shirt and she kept crying.  
What really, what did she realistically expected? She had been kidnaped. Brutally abused by a psycho killer to get information about Tommy’s death. You’d think he’d at least be over the denial stage somewhat after such a long time. He’d abandoned her in a terrible position, and then a car had crashed into her. Her baby- She sobbed again. THEIR baby. Oliver knew. He knew and he was still standing by her. Or laying, rather. He caressed her wet cheeks, and played with the tips of her hair, like he knew she liked so much. Shivers ran down her spine and she dozed off into another sleep without realizing it. 

When she woke up the doctor told her everything Oliver already had. He told her the man who crashed her had been turned to the police by the vigilante. And told her she could go home.

Oliver moved her back into her old apartment, where he had stayed the whole time. He moved her furniture back and it was like she’d never been gone. For two months she had to keep that stupid leg brace on, and the bandage on her ribs and she was prohibited from doing anything physical. Even so, Oliver doted on her hand and foot all day every day. He fed her, bathed her, and clothed her. She found out later (after hacking into the hospital records) that her baby would have been a boy. She broke into a crying fit again that day and Oliver had to glue her back together. 

Every night they spent sleeping side by side, his arms wrapped around her so that when her nightmares came, as they usually did, shouting about her ‘dead baby’ as he heard her murmur in her sleep before. He shushed away those nightmares and kept her warm with his body, so she wouldn’t feel alone and thrash the bed in another nightmare.   
One of the many days he took care of her Oliver went to her drawers after giving her a bath and noticing he had to do laundry because she was running out of panties, and as he pulled out the last one he heard a thump and looked to see what had fallen on the ground. It was a positive pregnancy test in a small plastic bag. A lump formed in his throat and he threw it away, thinking it was possibly the hardest thing he had ever done. He cleared his throat and went back in to finish dressing her. 

She got to meet John and Lyla’s baby, but couldn’t handle the pressure, excused herself, and cried silently in their bathroom. Oliver came and knocked on her door, asking if she was okay, saying sorry, that it was too soon, but she didn’t pay attention. She didn’t know she needed a small bundle of life in her arms until life had denied her of one.   
After two months she finally took everything off and took a few days to get used to walking again and using heels and sleeping alone. She went back to working at QC as his secretary (he used the excuse of going down 18 floors yet again) and she got to be near him all day without talking to him, as he was usually doing all his business in the office so he wouldn’t take more time away from Felicity when her shift ended. 

On the day that her son would have been born she crawled into bed and nothing Oliver said could get her out.   
“Fine. You wanna play this game? You think I don’t know how to dress you?” He was trying to be playful. “Oliver, please don’t.” She murmured, shoving the pillow on her face. He grabbed her favorite dress, that he knew she’d been dying to wear, and threw it at her. “Get ready. Tonight we’re going out.” 

She got dressed reluctantly, but underneath the hard shell she was happy she was finally going out, and not just crying miserably on her bed, as she planned and done for the last six months. Her dress was a low-back, barely covering her butt crack. She wasn’t wearing any underwear beneath it because panty lines were ugly and you can’t wear a bra with a backless dress. It was a black, short dress that clung to all the right curves, and revealed a little too much of others. If she’d been on a stage she’d get $1 bills and if she walked down the street she’d probably get at least $500. She chuckled and did her hair and makeup.   
When she walked out of her bedroom, Oliver, who was holding the car keys, dropped them, as well as his jaw. “Would you like a cup?” She asked, feeling self-conscious and pulling down her dress. “You’ve got a bit of drool.” “FELICTY you look STUNNING!” He said. He twirled her around and hugged her. Somewhere along the line their boundaries had disappeared. They slept in the same bed tangled together but never taking their clothes off, eating form each other’s spoons and watching movies cuddled up. At first their unsaid excuse was the baby. Now they didn’t need an excuse, though neither of them said it out loud. He put a bandana on her eyes so she couldn’t see where they were going. 

“My hair’s going to get messed up!” She shouted at him, but he kept driving. “It’s a surprise!”  
But she knew where he’d taken her soon enough. She could smell the salty air and she could hear the seagulls. She laughed. “The beach!” She shouted. She shook off her bandana and giggled gleefully as she watched the ocean pass them by. “I haven’t been to the beach in ages!” She shouted. “You weren’t supposed to look!” He said. “Okay, well, you’re going to have to put it on again in a minute because we’re almost there.”

When she felt the car park, she got anxious. What was this? He opened the door for her and helped her out of the car, guiding her with his hands all over her waist and hips and shoulders. Her smiled spread from ear to ear. “Are we eating?” She asked. He laughed. “Sure, later.”   
“What’s more important than food?!” She criticized. “Hmm,” was all he answered; she could hear her heels on sandy wood, and feel the salty wind on her skin and hair. “I’m realy not dressed for the beach.” She murmured. “And I’m still angry with you.” But honestly, why would she? She knew she wasn’t the only one who lost a baby. She’d barely had time to appreciate that it was there to begin with. They had the same amount of time to learn to love him and grow to want him despite everything else going on in their lives. He never said he’d lied the night of Slade’s attack. He’d never confirmed it either but that was a story for another day.   
“Okay, I want to say a few things before I take the bandanna off.” He said. “Shoot.” She nodded. 

“Felicity Smoak. You are sassy, you have an attitude, you bark AND bite, but my God, you are the only person in the world that can get away with that because aside from being these things you are also the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met. You’re the most intelligent. You’re the most talented and I would not be where I am in the company or anywhere else, without you. I never thought I’d be the one to put you danger. My whole purpose was to keep you safe and in order to destroy Slade I had to do what I’ve been working against for so long. I didn’t want to put you in danger. And after… New Years, that’s the only reason I let you go. But I found you. I made sure you were safe, and I kept my distance because I cared about you and your safety.” 

Felicity was glad the bandanna covered her eyes so he wouldn’t see her cry.

“And I can honestly say that the worst night of my life was the 24th, when I thought I’d lost you forever. I thought, for that minute and thirty three seconds that you wouldn’t come back to me. And in that minute I made a decision. I decided that I’d never let you walk out of my life. I was a fool to think you were safer with me away. The only way to make sure you’re always safe is to keep you with me. I can protect you, and I will, if it costs me my life.” 

She tried to think of a sarcastic joke to make to lighten the mood but could think of nothing else. 

“Felicity Smoak,” he whispered getting closer to her face. He slipped off the bandana and she saw his gorgeous, wonderful eyes right in front of her. “I love you.” He whispered. And with that, he got down on one knee, holding her hand in one of his and in the other a huge diamond rok on a white diamond ring. She knew this because she’d made a point of being able to tell the difference when she was in high school.  
She could see they were standing on a mini stage, and behind him the sand and the ocean and the sun was setting. And in the sand, written with lit candles, were the words, ‘MARRY ME.’ She felt her tears slide down her face and felt herself nodding. Did she say yes? She must have because he slipped the ring on her finger and got up. She jumped and he caught her enough to bring her up to his eye level. She rested her chin on his shoulder, whispering “Oh my God.” Over and over again. “I love you too.” She murmured, and her voice broke as she said this.   
He put her down and grabbed her face in his palms. “Today would have been the day our son was born. The beginning of a new life. I don’t want to ever forget today. I want this to be a new beginning for us. I want to be the father of all the kids you birth and I will be in that hospital room through every single one.” He said. Instead of talking she let her emotions get the best of her and pulled his face down to hers and kissed him as passionately as she had last New Year’s.

 

EPILOGUE: of course they get married and move to the Queen mansion although Mrs. Queen didn’t feel like it appropriately accommodated only two people… So Roy’s living with them now. Thea came back three years later. Malcolm moved to some Euro-asian country. They fought crime as a happily married couple before she became CEO, the club officially belonged to Roy, Oliver was the city’s Major, Diggle started working with Lyla and their own secret security company, and a proud daddy to a gorgeous baby girl. SOOO many short stories/drabblesthat could be done with this! I think I might do these sometime.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so.... TA-DA!!!! Idk if I'm any good with endings. I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did, I loved it so much it seriously got me through finals week, which is why I haven't really been updating it everyday. Idk how to do private messaging, but if you want to send me ideas for other stories on my tumblr, I will LITERALLY WRIT ANYTHING YOU WANT. I absolutely love writing, even more if it makes you guys happy. love you guys, thanks for reading!
> 
> My tumblr:
> 
> http://arrowfelicity.tumblr.com


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